n Tazul Islam Reza from Gaibandha

At least � ve people, including three chil-dren, were burned to death in a petrol bomb attack on a bus in Gaibandha in the country’s northern Rangpur division.

Our Gaibandha correspondentsaid the Dhaka-bound bus, which came under attack around 11pm, wasunder police escort when it was hit by arsonists.

The incident took place an hour af-ter the Awami League Central Working Committee meeting ended, which de-cided to get tough against the BNP-Ja-maat alliance’s ongoing blockade pro-gramme.

The Napu Paribahan bus had left Gaibandha Bus Terminal in a motor-cade under police escort when it was � rebombed in front of the Rural Electri-� cation Board o� ce in the Tulshighat area of Gaibandha Sadar.

Thirty passengers sustained burn in-juries in the arson attack late yesterday.

Nineteen survivors of the attack were sent to Gaibandha Sadar Hospital and eleven were referred to Rangpur Medical College Hospital.

Sadar police station O� cer-in-Charge Raziur Rahman con� rmed the details of the attack to the Dhaka Tribune.

The OC said the arsonists rapidly dispersed and � ed the scene after at-tacking the bus.

This is the second attack of the day in Gaibandha.

PAGE 2 COLUMN 1

IN THE NAME OF ISLAM

11 | OP-ED

SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 7, 2015 | www.dhakatribune.com | SECOND EDITION

Magh 25, 1421Rabius Sani 17, 1436Regd No DA 6238Vol 2, No 303

16 pages plus 24-page supplement Avenue-T | Price: Tk12

THE EDGE OF GLORY

AVENUE T

PACKED CROWD CREATES FESTIVE ATMOSPHERE

12 | SPORT

MODE SEPARATION WITH A PURPOSE

8-9 | LONG FORM

I N S I D E2 | NewsA balmy winter noon of yesterday saw Mun-ni Begum, drained of energy and frustrated, sitting on a pavement at Azimpur waiting for someone to come and hire her as a day labourer.

3 | NewsAfter being rescheduled twice, the Secondary School Certi� cate and equivalent examinations � nally began yesterday across the country amid the inde� nite blockade imposed by the BNP-led 20-party alliance.

7 | WorldTreasures from Afghanistan’s largely forgot-ten Buddhist past are buried beneath sandy hills surrounding the ancient Silk Road town of Mes Aynak.

6 | NationTwo students, including an SSC candidate were killed and two others injured in two sep-arate road accidents in the district on Thurs-day night and yesterday morning.

4 | NewsThe Dhaka International Trade Fair (DITF) yesterday attracted a huge crowd, given it was the last holiday before the fair ends on February 10.

15 | EntertainmentAre� n Shuvo, one of the busiest actors of Dhallywood, will tie his knot with his long time � ancé Arpita on February 16. Arpita Sa-maddar, is a Kolkata born fashion designer.

ALCWC to get tough against movement, plans DCC pollsin Marchn Abu Hayat Mahmud

The ruling Awami League has decid-ed not to hold talks with the BNP-led 20-party alliance, the Awami League Central Working Committee decided at a meeting last night.

Terming the BNP-Jamaat activities similar to those of terrorist organisation IS, Awami League General Secretary Syed Ashraful Islam said the party had decided to continue its tough stance against the violence of the BNP-Jamaat alliance.

Ashraf announced the decision to journalists after the meeting presided over by the party’s president, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, held at Ganab-haban.

At the meeting, the prime minister said the elections for Dhaka North and Dhaka South City Corporation will be held in March, meeting sources said.

According to the sources, Sheikh Hasina said: “We are passing a criti-cal moment, so we will not give in to BNP-Jamaat sabotage. Their activities are like those of IS.”

The premier directed party lead-ers to make preparations for Dhaka city elections, and directed the party’s leaders immediately to complete the committee party’s Dhaka and Gazipur city units.

Sources also said, the meeting de-cided that Awami League President Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina would make a panel for the Dhaka Bar Council Polls. l

Bangladesh defender Mohammad Nasir Uddin (5) taps in to score the match-winning goal against Thailand Under-23 in the second semi� nal of the Bangabandhu Gold Cup at Bangabandhu National Stadium yesterday MAINOOR ISLAM MANIK

Impressive Bangladesh romp to � naln Shishir Hoque

An incontrovertible per-formance from an iron-willed Bangladesh side was too hot to handle for Thailand Under-23 as the

hosts strolled into the � nal of the Bang-abandhu Gold Cup, courtesy a 1-0 win over the southeast Asian out� t inside an over� owing Bangabandhu National Stadium yesterday.

Veteran Sheikh Jamal Dhanmondi Club defender Nasir Uddin netted the all-important goal in the opening half with a superb � nish and each and every single Bangladesh player worked their socks o� to ensure the clean sheet. The men in Red and Green will face Malay-sia U-23 in the � nal at the same venue tomorrow.

In many ways, the victory is signif-icant for Bangladesh football and its future. More than a decade has passed since Bangladesh last reached the � nal of an international tournament. On the last occasion, they reached the Sa� Championship � nal at home in 2005.

Following a convincing victory against Sri Lanka in their last group stage match last Monday, expectation was high among the football faithful and accordingly, a signi� cant number of spectators gathered at the venue to watch the game. The o� cial capacity of the BNS is not more than 25,000 but more than 30,000 spectators thronged the big bowl. The last time the BNS wit-nessed such a crowd was back in 2009 in the Super Cup � nal between local ri-vals Abahani and Mohammedan.

PAGE 2 COLUMN 4

BNP: AL relying on law enforcers to stay in o� cen Mohammad Al-Masum Molla

The 20-party alliance has alleged that the Awami League had now become dependent on law enforcers to stay in o� ce, and had “handed over the con-trolling power of law enforcers to some controversial and vested bene� ciaries.”

A press release, signed by BNP Vice-Chairman Selima Rahman on be-half of the alliance, read: “Some biased and over-enthusiastic o� cials have been tarnishing the law enforcers’ rep-utation, tradition and neutrality by vi-olating law, fairness and human rights – causing questions to be raised inside and outside the country.

“Continuation of the glorious partic-ipation of the members of the [law en-forcement] forces at the UN peacekeep-ing mission is now facing uncertainty.

“With these as a backdrop, we are calling upon members from all levels of law enforcement agencies including the police, Border Guard Bangladesh, RAB and Ansar to review and be aware of the whole situation. We are urging them to act according to their conscience,” yes-terday’s press release added.

The BNP leader reiterated that the BNP-led 20-party alliance has been waging its movement to restore de-mocracy, people’s right to vote, the

PAGE 2 COLUMN 2

PM seeks mass support for tough actionsn Abu Hayat Mahmud

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has sought the support of the people for any stern action the government might take against the subversive acts com-mitted during the nationwide inde� -nite blockade imposed by the BNP-led 20-party alliance.

She also said the government was prepared to take any stern action against the ongoing violence in order to protect people’s lives and properties.

“The BNP and Jamaat-e-Islami have no knowledge of what is right or wrong because they do not even care about the exams of students. Leaders of the parties do not value education, they only priori-

tise their personal interests,” she said be-fore holding a meeting with members of Awami League Central Working Commit-tee at Ganabhaban yesterday evening.

“The Secondary School Certi� cate ex-aminees, their guardians and the teach-ers are fearful of petrol bomb attacks of BNP and Jamaat activists. So I urge the BNP leader to lift the blockade and call o� the strike at least during the exam time.

“If you [Khaleda] need, you can call a strike after the examinations,” said Hasina.

“What does she [Khaleda] actually want? Ziaur Rahman was involved in the killing of Bangabandhu. She [Khale-da] and her son [Tarique Rahman] were

PAGE 2 COLUMN 4

Fresh 72-hour hartal from Sundayn Tribune Report

The BNP-led 20-party alliance has called a fresh 72-hour nationwide har-tal from Sunday 6am, condemning the killing of opposition men in the name of cross� re, protesting mass arrests and calling for restoration of democra-cy and voting rights.

BNP Joint Secretary General Sala-huddin Ahmed made the announce-ment through a press release yesterday.

Salahuddin said the 72-hour strike from Sunday 6am to Wednesday 6am, would be staged alongside the ongoing inde� nite nationwide transport block-ade.

On behalf of party Chairperson Khaleda Zia, he also called upon PAGE 2 COLUMN 6

3 Jamaat-Shibir men killed in ‘gun� ghts’n Tribune Report

An activist of the Jamaat-e-Islami and two leaders of its student a� liate Isla-mi Chhatra Shibir were killed in sepa-rate incidents of “gun� ghts” with the police in Jessore, Rajshahi and Comilla yesterday.

Shahbuddin Mu� d, 22, information secretary of Shibir’s Rajshahi Univer-sity unit, was killed when Shibir men launched a crude bomb attack on apolice patrol car, the police claimed. Two Shibir leaders sustained bullet inju-ries and a police constable also sustained injuries allegedly during in the incident.

The incident took place in the ear-ly hours at Katakhali Shamsadipur in PAGE 2 COLUMN 1

US urges Bangladesh to enable peaceful political activity n Tribune Report

The United States has called upon the government of Bangladesh to provide space necessary for peaceful political activity and urged all political parties to instruct their members to refrain from violence.

“All Bangladeshis must have the right and the ability to express their views peacefully,” said a statement is-sued yesterday by US Department of State Deputy Spokesperson Marie Harf.

The US expressed grave concern over the ongoing unrest and deplored the “unconscionable” attacks, including bus burnings, throwing of incendiary devices, and train derailments that have killed and wounded innocent victims. PAGE 2 COLUMN 4

Arson on bus kills 5 despite police escortDeadly attack injures 30, follows ALCWC meeting that decides to get tough on blockade programme

Gaibandha arson attack victims being treated at a local hospital last night DHAKA TRIBUNE

News2 DHAKA TRIBUNE Saturday, February 7, 2015

3 Jamaat-Shibir men killed in ‘gun� ghts’ PAGE 1 COLUMN 3Rajshahi city’s Motihar. The injured were taken to Rajshahi Medical College Hospital for treatment.

The deceased – Shahbuddin – was a fourth year honours student at Rajsha-hi University’s crops science and tech-nology department. The injured Shibir leaders are – Habibur Rahman, presi-dent of Shibir’s Hobibur Rahman Hall, and Binodpur’s Shibir leader Mo� zur Rahman.

Rajshahi Detective Branch’s Assis-tant Commissioner Iftekhayer Alam told reporters that during a drive to nab anarchists, some Shibir men launched a crude bomb attack on a police patrol team near the graveyard in Shamsadipur.

A constable – Mahbub – sustained injuries in the attack. Police retaliated with bullets that injured three Shibir men. Doctors declared Shahbuddhin dead after the bullet-hit men were tak-en to the RMCH.

Meanwhile, a press statement signed by Shibir’s city unit Publica-tion Secretary Asaduzzaman claimed

that the three Shibir men were return-ing from a wedding on a motorbike at around 9pm on Thursday, when they were arrested by the police. Later po-lice shot Shahbuddin to death follow-ing torture and also injured the other two, the statement claimed.

Jessore ‘gunfight’In Jessore, Shahidul Islam – who is re-portedly an active Jamaat leader from Satkhira – was killed in a “gun� ght” that ensued after the police approached a vehicle for a security check.

However, only hours before his death, Shahidul had allegedly � ed from police custody along with another BNP activist.

The police claimed that Shahidul and “BNP activist” Abdul Majid – both reportedly accused in several cases � led with police stations in Satkhira sadar and Kolarowa upazilas – escaped from a police van while they were be-ing transported to Jessore from Sharsha upazila on Thursday.

Soon after the incident, three police

o� cials were closed to the Jessore Po-lice Lines, the district’s Superintendent of Police Anisur Rahman had told jour-nalists on Thursday night.

Later at around 2:30am yesterday, the incident of the “gun� ght” took place, re-ports our Jessore correspondent.

“The police approached a microbus in front of Khonika picnic spot on Jes-sore-Khulna highway, sensing suspi-cious activities of the people inside the vehicle,” said Jessore Additional Super-intendent of Police KM Ariful Hoque.

He added that the passengers of the microbus opened � re on law enforcers and hurled crude bombs at them. When the police � red back in retaliation, one of the passengers was injured while the other � ed the scene.

The injured man was brought to the Jessore Medical College Hospital, where the duty doctor declared him dead; while Sharsha police station’s As-sistant Sub-Inspector Shomen Biswas identi� ed the deceased as Shahidul.

Mohammad Shahbuddin, publicity secretary of Jamaat’s district commit-

tee, quoted Satkhira leaders as claim-ing that Shahidul was an active mem-ber of Jamaat despite not having an o� cial post at the party.

However, our Satkhira correspond-ent reported that Abdul Majid – who the Jessore police claimed was a “fugi-tive” - was shot in Kolarowa’s Thakur-bari area early yesterday.

Brie� ng reporters, Sub-Inspector Kamal Hossain, information o� cer of Satkhira police, said a police team went to Kolarowa’s Thakurbari area following a tip-o� about sabotage activities.

“When police reached the spot, the saboteurs started blasting crude bombs. Police retaliated by opening � re at them, and Jubo Dal Kolarowa munic-ipality President Abdul Majid, 37, was hit with a bullet,” SI Kamal said, adding that two police members were injured as well.

Police later took Majid to Satkhira Sadar Hospital for treatment. The two police members were also taken there, but were released after treatment.

Police also recovered a � rearm and several rounds of bullet shells from the scene, Kamal added.

However, the police did not com-ment about the Jessore police’s claim that Majid had earlier � ed from their custody.

Majid, who is from Tulshidanga vil-lage in Kolarowa, is listed as accused in four cases, including one under the Ex-plosives Act for attacking the motorcade of then opposition leader Sheikh Hasina.

Comilla ‘gunfight’The president of Comilla’s Chouddogram upazila unit of Shibir – Sahab Uddin Patwary – was killed in a “gun� ght” yesterday, the local police claimed.

Chouddogram police station O� cer-in-Charge Uttam Kumar Chakrabarty said a group of around eight criminals were waiting near Comilla sadar upazi-la’s Lalbagh to carry out acts of sabo-tage, when they “attacked” a patrolling police van. After the police � red back in “self defence,” the perpetrators � ed

leaving Patwary lying at the scene with a gunshot wound to his head.

The Shibir leader was declared dead after being taken to Comilla Medical College Hospital. Two Constables – Nur Hossain and Mohsin – were also report-edly hurt during the “gun� ght.”

However, Patwary’s sister Farzana Akhter told our Comilla correspondent that the police had deliberately killed her brother after detaining him earli-er on Thursday from in front of their house in Chouddogram’s Chandishko-ra village.

Patwary, 28, was a fourth year hon-ours student in the sociology depart-ment in Comilla’s Victoria College.

Earlier on Tuesday, an arson attack on a bus in Chouddogram killed at least eight people.

Following the incident, RAB chief Benazir Ahmed told a rally in the area that legal reprisal would be taken against the attackers. DIG of Chittagong range of police, Sha� qul Islam, had also claimed that the police had the capabil-ity to kill two to avenge every killing. l

BNP: AL relying on law enforcers to stay in o� ce PAGE 1 COLUMN 3rule of law and human rights in the country.

“It is the movement to establish people’s government through a fair election. This is the movement of the people. This movement is not against the law enforcement agencies, rather against the illegal government.”

Selima claimed that as people’s forces, Police-BGB-RAB had the duty and responsibility to ensure securityof all citizens, not to protect any single party.

“Today’s problem is not only a prob-lem of law and order; it is a political cri-sis. So, it should be resolved politically. But the ruling party is pushing them [law enforcers] against the people’s movement.”

Commenting on BNP’s alleged role in the loss of lives during the blockade and hartals, the BNP leader said: “It is

an evil attempt of the ruling party to re-press the opposition by blaming them for killing innocent people with bomb attacks on vehicles.

“It is our call to our brothers and sis-ters at law enforcement agencies, you can not be used as a tool to implement this plot.”

Urging for an end to extrajudicial killings, Selima said: “If a single extra-judicial killing happens even after our call, then those responsible should get ready to face punishment in the fu-ture.”

She also asked party leaders and activists to keep listing the name and identity of the o� cials who played roles in acts against the people. “Ap-propriate action will be taken against them in the future. We are also drawing attention of the human rights organisa-tions and international agencies in this regard.” l

Impressive Bangladesh romp to � nal PAGE 1 COLUMN 6Dutch coach Lodewijk de Kruif re-tained the starting eleven that played against Sri Lanka while Thailand made two changes, bringing in defender Se-lanon Nitipong and mid� elder Bun-san Kitphom in place of Surawich and Chayawat respectively.

The � rst half was dominated by the home side as they made a mockery of the world rankings where Thailand are 144th, 21 places above Bangladesh. The hosts appeared calm, composed and organised right from the onset and or-chestrated attacks with short passing, not with their customary long ball plays.

Bangladesh were rock-solid in de-fence, led by the admirable pair of Ray-han Hasan and Nasir. The ball was being moved around in the Thailand half most of the time. Experienced striker Jahid Hasan Emily seemed to have regained his con� dence and his movement was pivotal in many Bangladesh attacks.

The hosts went close with just six minutes into the clock when skipper Ma-munul Islam received a Sohel Rana cross

with his chest, dodged past a defender before shooting wide from a tight angle. Five minutes later, Emily met Rayhan’s long throw-in inside the penalty area but saw his header � ying wide.

In the meantime, the Thai defenders were unable to thwart the quick move-ments of right-winger Zahid Hossain.

Bangladesh almost grabbed the opener in the 20th minute but young mid� elder Hemanta Vincent Biswas failed to connect from eight yards following a Zahid cross. Zahid was a constant menace as he exhibited great skills to slalom past two defenders be-fore setting up an unmarked Hemanta. Hemanta delivered a high cross into the box, Sohel received it but his shot was blocked by Nitipong.

Another Rayhan throw-in caused havoc in the opposition defence at the half-hour mark but Thai goalkeeper Yos Somporn made a decent save to deny Emily’s header.

Bangladesh though were not to be denied in the 39th minute when Nasir tapped home a Mamunul corner from

the right � ag. Nasir is not famous for his goal-scoring exploits, rather, he is known as “Army Nasir” due to his de-fence-service background. The strong-ly-built defender made good use of his marching skills on the pitch and pulled his body high before sending the ball into the near post with his left foot.

A defensive Bangladesh chose a dif-ferent tactic in the second half, con-centrating more on keeping the lead. Thailand stringed together a few at-tacks after resumption but were unable to � nd the back of the net. In the sec-ond half, Thai forward Parmpak Pakorn tried his luck from 25 yards out with a looping shot. His curled e� ort though hit the woodwork. Thailand almost equalised in the 71st minute but Rayhan produced a brilliant block inside the box to deny forward Pimkoon Jaturong.

Bangladesh will now encounter Ma-laysia in the grand � nale tomorrow. The two sides met earlier in the com-petition, in the group stages. On that occasion, Malaysia were victorious by a slender 1-0 margin. l

US urges Bangladesh to enable peaceful political PAGE 1 COLUMN #The Dhaka Tribune estimates that as of yesterday some 62 people had been killed during the month-long political upheaval.

Some 119 burn victims were hos-pitalised, of whom 9 ultimately suc-cumbed to their injuries.

Fourteen people were killed in “shoot outs” with law enforcement personnel. Some 956 vehicles were

torched and 10 incidents of trains be-ing derailed had taken place across the country.

“We condemn in the strongest terms the use of violence for political objectives. There is simply no justi� cation for such actions in a democratic Bangladesh,” the US government statement said.

Nasim plays down concernsAwami League Presidium Member

Mohammed Nasim yesterday said con-cerns expressed by foreign countries over the ongoing violence in Bangla-desh was “routine work.”

He made the remarks on behalf of the Awami League-led 14-party alli-ance at AL president Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s o� ce in Dhanmon-di, following a statement from the US State Department expressing concern over the situation in Bangladesh. l

Fresh 72-hour hartal from Sunday PAGE 1 COLUMN #the party leaders and activists to ob-serve the hartal peacefully.

The announcement comes after a series of hartals by the 20-party alli-ance throughout last week, followed by a two-day break in hartals during the weekend.Meanwhile, separately, the Islami Chha-tra Shibir yesterday also called a dawn-to-dusk countrywide hartal for Sunday.

However, for the Rajshahi division only, the Jamaat-e-Islami student wing said it would stage hartal for 48 hours straight on Sunday and Monday.

Shibir President Abdul Jabbar, through a statement issued yesterday, said the organisation would enforce the shutdown to protest “killing, forced disappearance, mass arrest and repres-sion on their leaders and activists.”

Seven leaders and activists of Shibir have been shot dead in alleged “gun-� ghts” with law enforcement agencies during the last month.

Meanwhile, the Rajshahi unit of Shibir has called the hartal protest-ing “the killing of a leader of RajshahiUniversity Shibir unit in the hands of police.”

The shutdown was announced fol-lowing the killing of Shibir leader who died in a “shootout” with police at Ka-takhali in the city yesterday. Two Shibir leaders also sustained injuries in the incident. l

PM seeks mass support PAGE 1 COLUMN 6also involved in the 21 August grenade attack but still I went to her o� ce af-ter her son [Arafat Rahman Koko] had died. What did she do then? She kept the gate of the o� ce closed. So with whom will we sit for a dialogue?” said the prime minister.

Criticising arson attacks, Hasina questioned the source of money need-ed to make petrol bombs.

“These bombs cost a lot of money to make. Militants are killing people in Jordan, and in Bangladesh, BNP and Jamaat terrorists are killing innocent people as well by carrying out bomb attacks. So where is the di� erence be-tween them?” she said.

“The recent activities of the BNP and Jamaat are not agitations, those are terror acts,” said Hasina.

The Awami League chief said the BNP, along with Jamaat, had declared war against the countrymen as they were burning innocent people every day.

“Imposing the blockade and strike, she [Khaleda] is now staying in her of-� ce, which should be termed a luxuri-ous house, in Gulshan. She has no emo-tion, which is why she did not pray for her son by sitting beside his co� n. How will then she feel the emotion of people who have lost their near and dear ones in petrol bomb attacks?” Hasina said.

The prime minister said Khaleda’s destructive activities in the name of democratic movement would bring the country on the verge of ruination.

She also called on the people to put up strong resistance against the killings of the BNP and Jamaat. l

Pakistan � nds withdrawal of its Dhaka mission o� cial ‘unfortunate’n UNB

Pakistan has described the withdrawal of one of its o� cial from its High Com-mission in Dhaka as “unfortunate de-velopment.”

“We have already said that in our view this is an unfortunate development,” said Pakistan Ministry of Foreign A� airs Spokesperson Tasnim Aslam Khan at a brie� ng in Islamabad yesterday.

The spokesperson also said they have already con� rmed that an “o� cial” who had already completed his term and was asked to leave Bangladesh. “He has ar-rived back in Pakistan,” according to the Pakistan Foreign Ministry website.

Mohammad Mazhar Khan, attaché at the consular section of Pakistan High Commission in Dhaka, was withdrawn from Bangladesh on Saturday after intel-ligence dug out his involvement in terror � nancing and currency forgery racket.

However, the Pakistan Today in a report quoting the spokesperson said: “Allegations against him are baseless and the incident is unfortunate.” l

Do not provide legal aid to anarchists, minister to lawyersn UNB

Land Minister Shamsur Rahman Sherif yesterday urged lawyers not to provide le-gal assistance to saboteurs and anarchists.

He made the call while speaking to law-yers, o� cials of the administration and political leaders and activists at his Iswardi residence in Pabna, said a PID handout.

Sherif said those who are burning

people to death through petrol bomb attacks and torching vehicles, and damaging public property do not de-serve any legal assistance.

He also urged members of the com-mittee to resist terrorism and anarchy to identify those unleashing subversive activities across the country, and hand them over to law enforcers to build a terrorism-free society. l

Joy: No dialogue with BNP-Jamaatn Abu Hayat Mahmud

Government will hold no dialogue with the BNP-Jamaat “as they are behind the recent terrorist activism throughout the country,” Sajeeb Wazed Joy, adviser to the PM on Information and Communication Technology said yesterday.

Joy, son of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasi-na made the opinion while addressing a programme titled “Violence and poli-tics” organised by Suchinta Foundation at Hotel Lakeshore in the capital.

Terming the call for a dialogue as lunatic approach in current condition in the country he said: “It is simply a lunacy while someone made urge for a dialogue. There is no such example in

the world politics as incumbent gov-ernment made any dialogue with anar-chist groups.”

Awami League urged BNP Chair-person Khaleda Zia before the general election held on January 5 last year but she did not response, Joy said.

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina went to Khaleda Zia’s Gulshan o� ce to con-dole and found main the gate was locked; it was a bitter experience for the Prime Minister.

He also said the recent character of violence and subversive activism in the country is similar to the terrorist activities by terrorist’s out� ts in Paki-stan and one sta� of Pakistan embassy in Bangladesh had been removed for his alleged involvement with terrorists out� t ISI.

Journalist Abed Khan also spoke in the programme and expressed that the re-cent violent activities similar to the ongo-ing crisis in Iraq, Afghanistan and Syria.

Suchinta Foundation convener Md Arafat was the key note presenter at the programme. l

North Korean vessel denied entry to Ctg portn UNB

Upon advice from the UNSCR panel of experts, the government has denied permission to a North Korean vessel, carrying Panama � ag in guise, MV Zhong DE1 to enter Chittagong port.

“In conformity with the provisions of the United Nations Security Coun-cil Resolution (UNSCR) 1718 (2006) and as per the advice of the panel of experts established pursuant to UN-SCR 1718 (2006) and 1874 (2009), the government has decided to deny entry permission to Chittagong port to the

cargo vessel MV Zhong DE 1, IMO No 8715493,” said a Foreign Ministry me-dia note yesterday.

However, an o� cial preferring an-onymity told UNB that it was carry-ing Panama � ag though originally the Ocean Maritime Management Com-pany, Limited (OMM) of North Korea owns the ship.

The UN Security Council imposed restriction on the OMM and was list-ed on July 28, 2014 as its ship carried prohibited arms and related materials in concealed cargo from Cuba to the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea

(DPRK).“The capacity of the ship was 37,000

tonnes but it was carrying 43,000 tonnes cement clinker,” he said. The o� cial also said the vessel was halted outside Bangladesh’s sea territorial.

Contacted, Secretary of the Chit-tagong Port Authority (CPA) Omar Faruq said the vessel was carrying over 43000 metric tonnes of cement clinker to Chittagong from Vietnam.

“Most of the crew in the vessel are from North Korea,” he said adding there is an embargo from the UNSCR but did not elaborate. l

Arson on bus kills 4 despite police escort PAGE 1 COLUMN #Yesterday morning, pro-blockade ac-tivists torched two trucks near Po-lashbari Upazila Complex after forcing the driver and his assistant to get o� the vehicle before burning the vehicle down, our Gaibandha correspondent reported.

New modus operandi?In Jhalakathi, a local Shibir leader was arrested while trying to � rebomb a bus travelling under police escort last night, in a seeming precursor to the Gaibandha bus attack.

Police detained the president of Shibir’s Rajapur unit in Jhalakathi, Taj Uddin, as he tried to hurl a petrol bomb at a passenger bus that was under po-lice escort around 10pm.

The attacked bus lost control and fell into a roadside ditch, hitting Taj in the process and injuring him severely.

AFM Anowar Hossain, senior as-sistant superintendent of police in Jhalakathi and AZM Masuduzzaman, OC at Rajapur police station, took the critically injured arsonist to Rajapur Upazila Health Complex and then to Jhalakathi Sadar Hospital.

Four or � ve passengers received mi-nor injuries, the Rajapur OC said.

Relative peace shattered For most of the day, the BNP-led 20-party alliance enforced blockade and hartal had little impact on the lives

of the people on its 32nd day, aside from a few stray incidents of violence across the country.

Law enforcers continued a crack-down on alleged anarchists in di� erent parts of the country, arresting some 83 men of the BNP-led alliance for their al-leged involvement in blockade violence.

In the capital, city dwellers experi-enced tra� c jams on the roads, a sign of relative normalcy. Crowds of people were seen on the streets attending to their daily tasks.

Arsonists hurled a petrol bomb at a covered van on the Dhaka-Chittagong Highway in the Rampur area of Feni, our Feni correspondent reported.

The vehicle’s driver, Bachchu Haw-lader, 28, received burn injuries in the incident.

He was rushed to Feni Sadar Hospital and later transferred to the Burn Insti-tute at Dhaka Medical College Hospital.

Arrests continueMeanwhile, a Shibir activist was held with petrol bombs in Noakhali yester-day, reports our Noakhali correspond-ent.

The arrestee, Md Sanaullah, was de-tained with two petrol bombs by locals when he was trying to hurl it at a CNG-run auto-rickshaw at Nuru Patowari Hat around 10pm, police said.

Locals caught him red handed and handed him over to police after giving him a mob beating, police said.

Earlier around 9:30am, several ar-sonists blasted crude bombs near the o� ce of the assistant superintendent of police of Noakhali (Sadar) Circle.

Our Gopalganj correspondent re-ported that miscreants hurled petrol bombs at a micro-bus carrying a wed-ding party in the Kashiani area of Go-palganj yesterday.

The bomb, however, failed to explode. Law enforcers yesterday arrested

at least 83 activists of the BNP and Ja-maat-e-Islami in Dhaka, Chittagong and Satkhira.

In Dhaka, 16 people, including 12 BNP and four Jamaat activists, were taken into custody at di� erent places of the capital, said Masudur Rahman, assistant commissioner of Dhaka Met-ropolitan Police (DMP).

In Sathkira, 36 Jamaat leaders and activists, including two female activ-ists, were detained in Jhaudanga union of Satkhira around 1am.

Sahanara Bari, 48, president of the Jamaat women’s unit of Jhaudanga, and Sukhtara, 36, a Jammat activist of the unit, were taken into custody, Go-lam Rahman, o� cer-in-charge of Sat-khira Sadar police station, said.

Twenty-nine BNP, Jamaat and Shibir men were detained in di� erent upazi-las of Chittagong for alleged involve-ment in subversive activities.

Among the detainees, 12 were BNP men, four were from Jamaat and 13 were Shibir activists. l

College student killed in robberyn Tribune Report

Unidenti� ed miscreants stabbed col-lege student to death while her mother has been severely injured in the capi-tal’s Gopibagh area yesterday.

The deceased was Sadia, 20, a � rst-year student of Eden College. Her mother Fouzia, 40, is under treatment at the Islami Bank Hospital.

Biplab, a relative of the victims, said three miscreants entered their apart-ment at Gopibagh claiming to be cable connection employees; the deceased’s father Abu Yusuf, and brother was at the local mosque to attend Juma (Fri-day) prayers.

The robbers tied the mother and her daughter, and looted valuables and or-naments. When Sadia screamed for help, the miscreants stabbed both hostages.

Both were rushed to the Islami Bank Hospital, badly injured. Sadia succumbed to her injuries at about 6:00pm. l

‘The recent character of violence and subversive activism in the country is similar to terrorist activities’

n Munir Momtaj

After being rescheduled twice, the Secondary School Certi� cate (SSC) and equivalent examinations � nally began yesterday across the country amid the inde� nite blockade imposed by the BNP-led 20-party alliance.

The examinations, which were scheduled to begin on February 2 but were deferred until February 4 and then again until yesterday because of the general strike imposed by the BNP, began at 9am.

SSC examinees took Bangla � rst paper test, while Dakhil students took Qur’an Majid and Tazbid test and stu-dents of the technical education board took Bangla 2 exams in two shifts.

The second day’s exams scheduled for Wednesday were also rescheduled for to-day, and will be held from 10am to 1pm.

Education Minister Nurul Islam Nahid, after visiting the exam centre at Azimpur Girls School and College in Dhaka, said he was optimistic that the BNP would impose no more strikes during the exams.

“Students are taking the tests smoothly across the country and no untoward situation has been reported anywhere,” he told reporters.

Even though RAB, police, BGB were deployed to avoid any unwanted situ-ation, parents said they were still wor-ried about the safety of their children in such a turbulent situation.

The majority of the parents avoided bus, and used CNG-run autorickshaws and rickshaws to take examinees to test centres.

Almost every student arrived at the exam centre accompanied by his par-

ents and some of his relatives in light of security concerns, and also returned home with them after the exam.

Sabbir, a student of Udayan Higher Secondary School, said he was satis-� ed with his performance in the � rst exam, but was worried about when all the tests would be over.

MA Hamid, who was waiting for his daughter outside Azimpur Girls School

and College, said the safety of students was still a cause for concern despite initiatives taken by the law enforce-ment agencies.

“Because of the present situation in the political arena, we are very anxious about the safety of the examinees,” he said.

According to a report published on the website of the Board of Intermedi-

ate and Secondary Education, Dhaka, yesterday, a total of 1,363,065 examin-ees out of 1,370,342 took the � rst day’s tests at 3,037 exam centres under 10 education boards.

The number of expelled examin-ees was 19 while 7,277 were absent in the � rst day’s exams, said the report signed by Professor Md Abu Bakkar Siddik, chairman of the board. l

3NewsDHAKA TRIBUNE Saturday, February 7, 2015

WEATHER

SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 7

PRAYER TIMES Fajr 5:20am Sunrise 6:36am Zohr 12:13am Asr 4:12pm Magrib 5:49pm Esha 7:06pm

Source: Accuweather/UNB

D H A K ATODAY TOMORROW

SUN SETS 5:48PM SUN RISES 6:37AM

YESTERDAY’S HIGH AND LOW31.6ºC 9.5ºCTeknaf Srimangal

Source: IslamicFinder.org

F O R E C A S T F O R T O D A YDhaka 26 14Chittagong 27 16Rajshahi 26 11Rangpur 26 12Khulna 27 12Barisal 28 14Sylhet 27 12Cox’s Bazar 28 17

DRY WEATHER

LIKELY Ha� zuddin: No blockade if govt announces new election date n Tribune Report

BNP Vice-Chairman Maj (retd) Ha� zud-din Ahmed yesterday demanded that the government explain whether the party Chairperson Khaleda Zia was “ar-rested” or “free.”

He said they would think about withdrawing the blockade if the gov-ernment resigns from o� ce and an-nounces the date for fresh polls.

“We could not contact Begum Zia. Her telephone, fax and internet con-nections are disconnected,” he said.

“On Thursday night, police opened a registry book in front of her o� ce and leaders were barred from meeting her. The government has to clarify wheth-er Khaleda Zia is arrested, freed or con� ned, he said.

Speaking to the press at his residence, he said: “Dialogue could be held on an interim gov-

ernment and then peace will return in the country.”

After January 5, this is the � rst time a BNP leader publicly spoke to the me-dia. BNP Joint Secretary General Ruhul Kabir Rizvi spoke to the media from hiding.

Ha� zuddin said the government has to announce the date of a new general election after resigning from o� ce.

“Ministers are threatening of killing Begum Zia publicly. I want to say to the government that they should read the wall writings,” he said.

“Do not push the country into any-more confrontation,” he added. l

Zubair was killed in a planned way, say reportsn Probir K Sarker with Md Sanaul

Islam Tipu

Around 4:30pm on January 8, 2012, honours � nal year student Zubair Ahmed of English department was in-tercepted by two of his batchmates – Khandaker Ashikul Islam and Rashed-ul Islam Raju – outside the new Arts Faculty building after completing his last written exam.

They took him to a place on the campus where no one could witness the torture they had intended to carry out. On the way to a quiet jungle-like place behind the science workshop, on invitation, several others joined the duo.

They beat him up with steel pipes, iron rods, wood sticks and others apart from giving numerous kicks and punches until Zubair was almost un-conscious due to severe bleeding. They crushed his bones, pierced his body and crammed di� erent body parts.

They only stopped when it was dark and the Maghrib azan reached their ears, around 40 minutes after they had started battering the body of Zubair, allegedly as a revenge of his misbe-haviour four years back.

The duo who started the barbaric mission, interestingly, called a rick-shaw and took Zubair to Mir Mosharrof Hossain Hall, situated near the Dha-ka-Aricha highway. As they got an au-torickshaw there, the victim was taken to Enam Medical College Hospital in Savar.

They soon � ed the scene leaving Zubair at the emergency department and the contact number of one of his friends. After primary treatment, doc-tors sent him to United Hospital in the capital where Zubair succumbed to his injuries at 5:57am.

This, common but unexpected, sto-ryline has been created based on infor-mation found with the Jahangirnagar University authorities, police, confes-sional statements of two accused in Zubair murder case and some friends of the victim.

The killing spread panic among stu-dents and teachers having no a� lia-tion with the ruling Awami League or

those in opposition as well as ordinary people who learnt about it through media. Students launched movement demanding punishment of the ac-cused upon arrest; later the teachers joined them.

According to his friends, Zubair had sensed that he could be attacked by the rival group any time during the exams. On that fateful day too, he phoned the authorities to provide him with secu-rity.

Zubair had been staying outside the campus, at Savar, since he quit poli-tics a year back following a crackdown against the Chhatra League faction he was loyal to. He did not attend classes

regularly; went to the campus to sit for exams only.

According to the confessional state-ments, the police and the university’s probe body, Zubair was tortured as he, along with some seniors, had assault-ed Ashik and Raju when they were � rst year students.

A case was � led the day Zubair had been killed against three – Ashik, Raju and Khan Mohammad Rois – as their involvement was found in primary investigation by the university author-ities.

Based on two more probe reports, the university Syndicate on January 30 expelled seven students for life for their direct involvement in the inci-dent. Six others were suspended for two years. The accused were also de-clared unwanted on the campus for the same period of time.

All the accused enjoyed bail, grant-ed by the High Court, during the trial proceedings; but only until February 23 last year when the bails of six ac-cused had been cancelled for assault-ing two friends of Zubair on the court premises on January 19.

The seven accused now in jail are Nazmus Sakib Tapu, Md Mazharul Is-lam, Md Mahmudul Hasan Masud, Md Kamruzzaman Shohag, Sha� ul Alam Shetu, Abhinandan Kundu Ovi and Md Nazmul Hussain Plabon.

Four accused � ed the court on Feb-ruary 23 last year. They are Ashik, Rois, Ishtiaque Mehboob Aroop and Ma-habub Akram. Two others – Raju and

Md Zahid Hasan – have been absent from their court appearance since Jan-uary 23 last year.

Akram, who was expelled for life and gave confessional statement be-fore a magistrate on January 13, 2012, said Zahid told him that Zubair had been captured. At the spot, they found Ashik, Raju and Rois beating up Zubair with GI pipes.

“Plabon, Masud and several oth-ers were present there while Aroop and Tapu joined in after some time,” Akram said in his statement.

Tapu was expelled for two years. He gave confessional statement on Janu-ary 13, 2012. “Ashik started beating up Zubair with GI pipes, and then Rashed-ul followed him.”

He mentioned about Akram, Zahid, Aroop, Ovi and Shetu among others who had tortured Zubair.

Key suspect Rois, now believed to be in Denmark, in an interview via Facebook with the Dhaka Tribune on Tuesday, claimed that he had not been present at the scene.

Asked why he had � ed the court, Rois claimed that he wanted to save his life since the country’s law would not do justice to him.

After the arguments session end-ed on January 28, the Dhaka’s Speedy Trial Tribunal 4 set February 4 for ver-dict. But the date was rescheduled for tomorrow as the police had not pro-duced the seven accused – now in Dha-ka Central Jail – to the court on security grounds. l

Students sit SSC exams after anxious wait

Candidates sit the twice-postponed SSC exams which began yesterday amid the hartal and blockade programmes of the 20-party alliance while anxious parents wait. The photos were taken at Motijheel Central Government High School SYED ZAKIR HOSSAIN

Trial of Humayun Azad murder remains incompleten Md Sanaul Islam Tipu

The trial in the sensational murder case of prominent writer and Dhaka Univer-sity Professor Dr Humayun Azad is yet to be completed, eleven years since the incident.

The case currently remains pending with the Fourth Additional Metropoli-tan Session Judge’s Court in Dhaka.

On February 27, 2004, miscreants attacked the professor, stabbing him as he attempted to get on a rickshaw to go home from Ekushey Boi Mela on the Bangla Academy premises in the city.

After undergoing a series of treat-ments, he died of cardiac arrest during a visit to Munich, Germany on August 12 of the same year.

Following the incident, an attempt-ed murder case was � led with Ramna police station against several unidenti-� ed people.

Three years after the incident, Crim-inal Investigation Department (CID) Inspector Kazi Abdul Malek submit-ted the charge sheet on November 14, 2007, accusing � ve persons.

On October 24, 2009, Professor

Azad’s brother Manzur Kabir � led an-other application, following which another Dhaka court ordered further investigation.

Later, on April 30, 2012, CID inspector Lutfor Rahman pressed fresh charges against � ve Jama’atul Mujahideen Ban-gladesh (JMB) leaders and appealed to the court to turn the case into a murder case.

Later, on September 10, the court pressed charges against JMB leaders Mizanur Rahman alias Minhaz, Anwar Alam alias Anwar Hossain, Nur Mo-hammad Babu alias Sabu, Salauddin alias Salehin and Ha� z Mahmud.

The leaders are currently in jail ex-cept Salehin and Sabu, who are still at large. Minhaz and Anwar have given

confessional statements before magis-trates confessing their involvement in the incident.

However, the case still remains incomplete. Earlier, on February 20, 2014, the High Court directed the low-er court to dispose the case within six months, expressing dissatisfaction over the lengthy proceedings.

Despite a year having passed since this direction, the trial is yet to gain momentum.

When contacted, Saiful Islam He-lal, additional public prosecutor of the court told the Dhaka Tribune: “We are trying our level best to complete the trial soon.”

He said the blockade and hartal pro-grammes have hampered the process of recording deposition of witnesses as jail authorities cannot produce the arrested before the court on security grounds.

Thirty-two out of 58 prosecution witnesses including the late professor’s daughter Mouli Azad have so far given depositions in the case. The next date for recording deposition of remaining prosecution witnesses is February 12. l

Biman � ight makes emergency landing at Dhaka airportn BSS

Biman Bangladesh Airlines � ight BG047, en-route from Chittagong to Dubai, made an emergency landing at Shahjalal International Airport in Dha-ka early this morning after one of its engines experienced an in-� ight surge.

“None of the passengers on board were hurt in the incident,” said a Bi-man release signed by Khan Musharraf Hussein, general manager for public relations.

It said the 777-200ER aircraft, with 241 passengers and crew on board took o� from Chittagong at 12:33 am. “Ap-proximately 8 minutes into the � ight, one of the engines experienced an in-� ight surge with damage to the en-gine,” the release said.

The 777 aircraft is equipped with two engines and can � y safely with only one in operation.

Another aircraft was made available and took o� at 3:36am for Dubai, with 237 of the 241 passengers on the origi-nal � ight on board.

The aircraft, manufactured in 2001, will re-enter operational service after engine repairs are done.

“For those passengers not continu-ing their journey, a full refund of their ticket will be given,” he said. l

Despite an HC order on February 20, 2014 to dispose the case within six months, a year has passed but the trial is yet to gain momentum

News4 DHAKA TRIBUNE Saturday, February 7, 2015

Chief Justice for being more tolerant towards each othern Our Correspondent, Moulvibazar

Against the backdrop of the current political violence across the country, Chief Justice SK Sinha has urged the countrymen to become more tolerant towards each other.

He was addressing, as the chief guest, a programme organised by the Moulvibazar Bar Association on Thurs-day night.

The chief justice said it is too painful to see the deaths of people in the polit-ical violence.

Urging the country’s law enforcers to ensure security of the people, he said the law enforcers should be more aware so that the innocent people do not fall victim to the violence.

In his speech, SK Sinha expressed

his deepest gratitude and respect to the county’s freedom � ghters of the coun-try’s liberation war.

“If the country could not achieve independence through the Liberation War, I would have never been a justice of the High Court, let alone being the chief justice,” he said.

The chief justice said he would take initiatives to reduce the existing legal backlog in the country.

With Moulvibazar Bar Association President in the chair, Social Welfare Minister Syed Mohsin Ali attended the programme as a special guest.

Moulvibazar Dirstrict and Sessions Judge Monir Ahmed Patwari, Deputy Comissioner Kamrul Hasan, Superiten-dent of Police Tafael Ahmad, among others, spoke on the occasion. l

‘Promote Rabindra Sangeet to combat foreign culture aggression’n Our Correspondent, Barisal

Cultural personalities urged for prop-er promotion and practice of Rabindra Sangeet to combat the aggression of foreign cultures in the country.

Addressing the biannual district conference of 15th Jatiya Rabindra Sangeet Sammilon Parishad (JRSSP) in Barisal city yesterday, the speakers said by spreading Rabindranath Tagore’s philosophy through his songs, the cul-tural pollution can be prevented.

They called for expansion of the practice and propagation of the themes of Rabindranath Tagore’s songs to com-bat the aggression of “bad, obscene, foreign cultures.”

They also stressed research and study of Tagore’s music and philosophy to build a non-communal, enlightened, progressive, and humanist nation.

The day-long event was inaugurated by Nikhil Sen, senior cultural personal-ity in the city, by hoisting national and organisational � ags in front of Ashwini Kumar Hall in the morning.

Other programmes included a rally, a general meeting at Ashwini Kumar Hall, lighting diyas, placing wreaths at the portrait of Tagore, and a cultural func-tion to conclude the event. Besides, a Rabindra Sangeet competition was held at Barisal NGO Development Network in the afternoon on this occasion.

The programme was presided over by Nazrul Islam Chunnu, president of the Barisal branch of JRSSP, and at-tended by Shahidul Alam, deputy com-missioner of Barisal district, Nikhil Sen, and members of di� erent socio-cultur-al organisations in the region. l

Call for an end to political violence n Our Correspondent, Barisal

Leaders and members of the district unit of Khelaghar, a youth organisa-tion, formed a human chain yesterday morning in front of Barisal’s Ashwini Kumar Hall and called for an end to the political violence.

They have pressed the ruling and opposition alliances to ensure the safe-ty and security of children.

Jibon Krishna Dey, president of Khelaghar’s Barisal district o� ce pre-sided, and Advocate Bishwanath Das Munshi, Professor Nazmul Hossain

Akash, Kamrunnahar Moni, AB Siddik, Bahauddin Golap, leaders and activists of Khelaghar leaders and activists, Udi-chi, among others, addressed the pro-gramme.

People are su� ering, and the nation is facing losses, thanks to the political rivalry between the ruling and opposi-tion alliances, carried out in the name of blockades, strikes, and violence.

Children are forced to stay home, as it has become uncertain whether they will reach home safely if they venture outside.

Parents and guardians throughout

the nation have become more anxious about the volatile situation, and are well aware of the government’s failure in providing a secure environment.

In this situation, rival political alli-ances should be held accountable for ensuring the safety of children and the masses. All should unite against those who have killed people, even infants, through arson attacks.

Khelagar human chain activists have demanded the cancellation of political movements such as blockades and strikes, to ensure non-violent in the nation. l

Khulna’s drainage channels crippled by land grabbingn Our Correspondent, Khulna

Five out of 22 drainage channels in Khulna are under illegal possession of in� uential locals. Even though authori-ties have attempted to recover the land on multiple occasions, the e� orts have been futile.

Land grabbing and related activities in the adjacent areas have caused dras-tic reduction in width and throughputs of these channels. As a result, areas in Khulna city are waterlogged.

In an average, the channels now are 3-8 feet wide while the narrowest of these canals were supposed to be 20-25 feet wide. The total length of the chan-nels under illegal occupation is 14 kilo-metres, approximately.

The channels under such malprac-tice are: The Gora Khal(Channel/Ca-nal) at Labonchora, the Mandar Khal at Banargati, the North Bank Khal at Gallamari, the Harintana Narikelbaria Khal, and the Matiakhali Khal at Harin-tana.

Occupants have built commercial and residential complexes the in the oc-cupied area. Even the Khulna City Cor-poration (KCC) itself is guilty of erecting illegal structures in these areas.

Estate o� cer of the Khulna City Corporation Nuruzzaman Talukder informed Dhaka Tribune, in� uential locals claim ownership of the land by dint of counterfeit papers.

The o� cer, however, claims the city corporation has already takes necessary action against the occupants. The estate o� ce has already sent a list of such occupants to the Magistrate.

The magistrate has inspected the channels at Matiakhali and Labanchora and ordered the eviction of the illegal occupation.

While the District Administration owns the 22 channels in Khulna, the KCC is responsible for maintenance and supervision. Various KCC meetings have called for strict actions to tackle the occupants. Lots of occupied land has been recovered since; the areas were surveyed again and marked, se-cured with pillars.

During this phase, occupants bribed the surveyors – underestimating the District Administration’s land and re-cording the excesses under their pos-session.

The arising problem was supposed to be solved by eviction, and reclama-

tion of the lands. The steps are yet to materialise.

Labanchora, 2 kilometres long and 40-50 feet wide on paper, is claimed by 45 people who claim to have ac-quired the lands from one Abdul Malek through direct sale. Malek, now ex-pired, was the initial lessor of the chan-nel area.

Mandar is also 2 kilometres long and 50-60 feet wide on paper. 13 parties claim ownership of 1 kilometre of this channel. The claimants have stayed the eviction orders after being ordered by court to clear the area.

North Bank Channel is supposed to be 4km long and 20-25 feet wide. This channel alone causes waterlogging in � ve Khulna localities.

Harintana-Narikelbaria is supposed to be 3km long and 60 feet wide. Occu-pied areas have been sold as residential plots.

Matiakhali is supposed to be 2.5 km long and 50-60 feet wide. A 4-party alliance leader built a Primary School here during the tuner of the 4-party rule. Many � sheries operatedhere, by erecting dams in the channel.

Even the KCC has built roads over this channel. l

Yaba smuggling gets a boost for political turmoil n Tarek Mahmud, Chittagong

As law enforcing agencies nowadays are busy with tackling political unrest, the Yaba smugglers are getting more chances than any other time in the re-cent past to smuggle the narcotic into the country from neighbouring coun-try Myanmar through Chittagong and Cox’s Bazar.

Smuggling of Yaba tablets has been rising in Chittagong at an alarming rate for last couple of days beating all kinds of resistance of law enforcement agen-cies, said di� erent law enforcing agen-cies.

Almost every day the law enforce-ment agencies have Yaba seizure which indicates that peddling of the contra-band item is going rampant, the sourc-es said.

Police, Detective Branch (DB), Rapid Action Battalion (RAB), Border Guards of Bangladesh (BGB), Bangladesh Coast Guard (BCG), Bangladesh Navy and Directorate of Narcotics Control (DNC) in their separate drives seized about 2,000,000 Yaba tablets from Chit-tagong and Cox’s Bazar districts since last month.

But the number was about 15,80,000 in 2014, about 4,00,000 in 2013 and about 2,50,000 in 2012 in the districts, said DNC Chittagong Metropolitan’s Superintendent Inspector Chowdhury Imrul Hasan.

He also said the smugglers preferred to use the water route than the land route for quick and risk-free peddling.

Another reason for choosing wa-ter route is only coastguard and navy look over the  water territory while the land areas are under surveillance of many forces.

DNC Chittagong Metropolitan’s Dep-uty Director Ali Aslam told Dhaka Tri-

bune that smugglers who used the wa-ter route in the recent times could not be arrested.

“As the law enforcers on land areas are busy to face the recent political vi-olence since the beginning of the year, smugglers get chance to increase their activities,” he said.

According to Chittagong Metropol-itan Police (CMP), there are about 274 drug spots in the port city which are being controlled by 106 drug smug-glers. The drug peddlers mainly do yaba business.

The smugglers, however, most-ly use water-ways of Chittagong and Cox’s Bazar at present, but they also use Rangamati, Bandarban, Comilla, Feni and Chittagong’s Mirsarai borders as their smuggling routes, said DNC and law enforcing sources.

When the border routes went under strict surveillance, the smug-glers use Satkhira and Khulna as their new routes.

Additional Commissioner (crime and operation) of the CMP Banaz Kumar Ma-jumder said the huge seizure of the nar-cotic indicates that law enforcers have strong vigilance over the matter. l

Visitors � ock DITF on last holiday before closingMost visitors throng pavilions of kitchenware and electronic goods n Tribune Report

The Dhaka International Trade Fair (DITF) yesterday attracted a huge crowd, given it was the last holiday be-fore the fair ends on February 10.

Visitors � ocked to the country’s biggest trade show with their near and dear ones to make their � nal purchas-es, mostly household items.

The traditionally month-long fair is organised every year by the Export Promotion Bureau and the Ministry of Commerce from January 1 till January 31.

But this year, following the continuous blockades since January 6, the govern-ment on January 25 announced an ex-tension of DITF 2015 by 10 days, with the new end date of the fair on Febru-ary 10.

The decision came as the BNP-led 20-party alliance continued with their blockade programmes, discouraging presence, and in turn disrupting sales, at the fair.

During the visit to the fair, this cor-respondent found most visitors throng-ing stalls and pavilions of kitchenware, plastic products, home appliance and

electronic goods to buy utensils for dai-ly life.

“I came here to enjoy the holiday with the friends as normally we can-not go out due to blockade,” said Ahnaf Chowdhury, a student of Stamford Uni-versity, adding that it was his last holi-day, so he wanted to utilise it by mak-ing some purchases.

“I had wanted to visit Fantasy King-dom with my two children since � rst of January, but could not keep that prom-ise considering the country’s political situation,” said M Zahedul Alam, a pri-vate banker. “Since I failed to visit the theme park, I came here today to enjoy the day with my daughter and son and to buy some household items with my wife.”

Shamsun Naha, a Mirpur resident, had di� erent reasons to come here on the last holiday. “Every year, on the last day of the fair, I visit the fair as it o� ers discount for the customers and I always get lucky. I buy products in bulk, especially household, crockery and other items.”

However, traders are not satis� ed about the fair sales as there has been countrywide shutdowns since the in-ception of the month-long expo.

Arif Hossain, a sales executive of RFL Plastic, said: “Though we have witnessed a lot of visitors and had good sales today [Friday], the overall sales did not match our expectation due to continuous political programme such as hartal and blockade.”

The Export Promotion Bureau and the Ministry of Commerce jointly or-ganise the month-long DITF at the capital’s Sher-e-Bangla Nagar area. The trade fair will remain open to visitors from 10.00am to 10.00pm everyday till February 10. l

Following the continuous blockades since January 6, the government on January 25 announced an extension of DITF 2015 by 10 days, with the new end date of the fair on February 10

Members of law enforcement agencies in their separate drives seized about 2,000,000 Yaba tablets from Chittagong and Cox’s Bazar districts since last month

The last Friday of the Dhaka International Trade Fair 2015 sees a massive crowd in attendance, taking advantage of the weekend after a week-long hartal RAJIB DHAR

Theatre artistes stage a play at the Central Shaheed Minar premises yesterday, as a part of the National Street Theatre Fest 2015. Organised by Bangladesh Group Theatre Federation, the festival’s theme is petrol bomb attacks and the current political situation MAHMUD HOSSAIN OPU

5SpotlightDHAKA TRIBUNE Saturday, February 7, 2015

The nation has been su� ering since the BNP-led 20-party-enforced blockade began a month ago - even more so during the hartals. But it is the low-income citizens who are taking the brunt of it. Livelihood as well as lives are at stake for book hawkers, fruit sellers, day labourers, van pullers and people of similar professions during this tumultuous time. The photos were recently taken from Nilkhet, Azimpur, Gulistan, Sadarghat and Badamtoli areas in the capital

H A P L E S S A N D H E L P L E S S

DHAKA TRIBUNE Nation6 Saturday, February 7, 2015

Rajshahi char to get electricity supply soonn Nazim Mridha, Rajshahi

The long-cherished dream of about 5,000 people of Padma char at Asariya-dah union under Godagari upazila, Ra-jshahi is likely to be ful� lled as they are going to get electricity connection soon.

Local people are very much excited with the electricity supply as they think that they would be able to achieve the things which they have been expecting for long.

Finance Ministry with the � nancial assistant of the World Bank has under-taken a project to build a power plant which would have 148.5 kilowatt elec-tricity production capacity.

Under the project, electricity con-nection would be provided to about 1,000 houses and business establish-ments.

Construction of the plant started on January 10 this year and now the con-struction work is going on full swing.

“The construction works would be completed soon. It will be possible to connect 1,000 houses and business establishments of the union to the

electricity supply system within next six months,” said Engineer Mezba-ul-Haque, senior manager of power planting organsation Ava Development Society.

With supply of electricity, the long-cherished demand of about 5,000 char inhabitants would come into light which will bring all others develop-ment of the area into one-step-for-ward, he said.

The char inhabitants would go for-ward after getting the electricity con-nection in the area, said Sha� kul Islam, a teacher of Asariyada Primary School while talking to the Dhaka Tribune.

Earlier, agriculture, the main in-come source of the inhabitants of the area, is depend on diesel, but now pow-er supply would add a new dimension over the development of the agricul-ture, Sha� kul added.

The electricity lines would be set up in around 8.5-kilometers areas, said Millat Hossain, area manager of the power plant agency. The total cost of the project has been estimated at about Tk6.62 lakh, he added. l

Farmers of northern region in despair over water crisisn Our Correspondent, Nilphamari

Farmers are frustrated with the water crisis in the northern region, including Nilphamari, which is extensively ham-pering irrigation and cultivation.

This has happened as the main irri-gation canal of the Teesta River is grad-ually drying up.

Sources said a target to irrigate 65,000 hectares of land in Rangpur, Dinajpur and Nilphamari in the current season was set, but the existing facili-ties could only supply water to 36,400 hectares.

This forced o� cials to lower the tar-get to 28,500 hectares under six upazi-las in Nilphamari in the current rabi season, but farmers are still struggling with getting adequate water supply.

As an alternative, farmers in the district have installed more than 1,000

diesel pumps to irrigate lands. Ataur Rahman, a farmer and presi-

dent of Teesta Bachao Rokkha Commit-tee of Khalisha Chapani union in Dimla upazila, said the supply of water from the Teesta irrigation canal was very poor.

Aminur Rahman, president of S 1T irrigation canal, said 300 hectares of land out of 700 hectares in Jaldhaka upazila had been brought under irriga-tion facilities so far.

“The scarcity has made farmers un-able to irrigate lands in order to culti-vate crops,” he said.

Ra� ul Bari, project o� cer of Tees-ta barrage project, said: “There is not enough water in the water command area in the canal, where the irrigation water is supplied from, because of the dwindling � ow of water from the Tees-ta River.” l

AL leader’s house torched in Natoren Our Correspondent, Natore

Miscreants set the residence of a rul-ing party leader at Lakshmipur-Khola-baria under sadar upazila in Natore on Thursday midnight.

O� cer-in-Charge Abdus Sattar of sadar police station said some miscreants set ablaze the house of Lakshmipur-Khola-baria union Awami League’s ward 8 unit president Sha� qul Islam when he was in deep sleep around 1:30am.

“Neighbours noticed the � re and rushed to douse it. Hearing the scream of the locals, the couple woke up and found the door locked from outside. Then, locals opened the door and brought them out of the room,” said the OC.

Sha� qul claimed that the � re dam-aged all the furniture and essentials of his room.

The Awami League leader’s son lodged a complaint with sadar police station against six persons in connec-tion with the arson attack.

Police said they were trying to arrest the culprits. l

‘Lovers’ commit suiciden Our Correspondent, Narshingdi

Police in Narshingdi’s Raypura recovered yesterday the body of two people who locals claim were romantically involved. The couple reportedly committed suicide by hanging themselves with the same rope in Saudapara area of the upazila.

The deceased are salon worker Sukhlaal Barman, son of Bishal Chan-dra Barman of Saudpara village, and Monika Rani Barman, a ninth grade student at local Manipura High School and daughter of Rakhal Chandra Bar-man of the same village.

According to accounts of the police and locals, Sukhlal had been having a relationship with his neighbour Monika. On Thursday evening, around 8pm, the two went missing. Despite numerous searches at residences of friends and relatives, they remained untraceable.

On Friday morning, locals found the bodies of the two hanging from the tree and informed the family members. Upon receiving information, police re-covered the bodies and sent them to the Sadar Hospital Morgue. l

3 killed in road accidentsn Tribune Report

Two students, including an SSC candi-date were killed and two others injured in two separate road accidents in the district on Thursday night and yester-day morning.

Police and eyewitnesses said a stu-dent identi� ed as Pranta 12, son of one Shahjahan of Bihari Colony of Adamji Sumil Para, was run over by a truck while he was riding a bicycle on Narayanganj-Siddirganj road under Siddirganj police station this morning.

O� cer-in-Charge of Siddirganj police station Md Alauddin said the victim was a student of local primary school. Police seized the truck and ar-rested the driver Monir Hossain.

In another accident, a SSC candidate was killed on the spot and two others injured when the trio riding a motor-cycle were going to their residences at Dohorgaon.

A speedy covered van hit their mo-torcycle at Golakandail area on Dhaka- Shylhet highway under Rupganj police station on Thursday night.

The victim was identi� ed as Jaynul

Abedin, 19, an SSC candidate, son of Abdus Sattar of village Dahargaon un-der Rupganj upazila. The injured were identi� ed as Ryad, 21, and Shahid, 22.

Kanchpur Highway police seized the covered van but the driver managed to � ee. Two separate cases were regis-tered with the concern police station.

In Khulan, one person was killed and two others, including a SSC ex-aminee, were injured in a road mishap yesterday morning at Shantidham in-tersection in the city.

The deceased was identi� ed as Mu-hammad Wasim, 35, a driver of a bat-tery-run easy bike, son of Muhammad Ismail and a resident at Dalmill more area in Sonadanga thana in the city.

Local people and police said, the ac-cident took place around 8:45am when a rice laden truck collided head on with the easy bike, leaving Wasim dead on the spot and two others injured.

One of the injured was rushed to Khulna Medical Collage Hospital (KMCH) in critical condition and the fe-male SSC examinee of City’s Iqbalnagar School was taken to examination cen-tre at government Zila School. l

Traders in Sherpur su� er from stockpile of rice due to unrestn Our Correspondent, Sherpur

Almost 9,000 tonnes of rice is trapped in Sherpur as traders are not being able to supply the produce to areas out-side the district due to ongoing coun-trywide BNP-Jamaat blockade. The amount of surplus rice in the market is increasing with every passing day.

To recover day-to-day expenses, traders have not option but sell the rice within Sherpur, incurring up to Tk2 per kilogram of rice. The numbers add up to a net loss of at least Tk 1 crore 80 lakh for 9,000,000 kilograms of surplus rice in the district alone. Rice trade in Sherpur a� ects livelihoods of at least 100,000 people connected to it: mill-owners,

whoesalers, employees, producers, transport workers among others.

Risking the ongoing blockades, truckers had been carrying the rice for extra premium. After 4 lorries fell prey to pickets in the Dhaka-Sherpur high-way, even the increased transport cost is failing to motivate the truckers who now decline to travel to the capital.

Normally, lorries charge Tk 13,000 for a Dhaka bound trip. Now the price has risen to Tk16,000-18,000. Howev-er, the number of lorries making the trip had fallen to 10-15 per day from a normal average of 100 trucks per day.

As a result, the regular price of Na-jirshail and BRI-28 has fallen two taka per kilogram from Tk 42 and Tk 34 re-

spectively.Rice mill owners and wholesalers

inform at least 1,000 rice mills, large to small, supply up to 100 lorries of Najir-shail, BRI-28 parboiled and un-boiled rice to the rest of Bangladesh.

Notable Sherpur-resident rice trad-er, and the vice-chair of the local cham-ber of commerce, Haider Ali con� rmed our reporter of the amount of rice pil-ing up in the district.

Secretary general of the mill-owners association and senior vice president of the COC, Asaduzzaman Roushan says the situation for the stakeholders’ looks woeful; people who have acquired credit from the banks are in direr straits with many staring at bankruptcy. l

Local people yesterday gathered at Shantidham intersection in Khulna city where driver of a human haulier was killed and two others were injured AZAHAR UDDIN

Activists of the Banglasesh Chhatra League, student’s wing of the ruling party Awami Legue, take position in front of Government Agragami Girls’ High School before the SSC examination started yesterday. The BCL men said they were trying to protect students from possible attack of miscreants

Saturday, February 7, 2015DHAKA TRIBUNE World 7

AAP rejects Jama masjid Imam’s supportn Agencies

The shahi imam of Jama Masjid, Syed Ahmed Bukhari, has appealed to Mus-lims in Delhi to vote for the AAP.

After the yesterday prayers, Bukhari while addressing the gathering said that it is important for Muslims to vote en bloc in favour of one party, which is secular. “BJP ever since it has come in power at the centre is dividing the country on religious lines. AAP is a se c-ular party and Muslims for their better-ment should vote for it.”

In last Delhi assembly elections, Bukhari was against AAP and had then appealed people to vote for Congress. However, his younger brother, Yaahya Bukhari, had joined AAP one and a half years back and has been a member since.

However, the AAP has rejected

Bukhari’s o� er of support.AAP leader Sanjay Singh said his party

doesn’t support the ideology of Bukhari, and the party doesn’t need his support.

“Bukhari has supported di� erent par-ties at di� erent times, he has invited Paki-stani PM Nawaz Sharif and not the Indian PM for his son’s dastarbandi (anointment as the next shahi imam),” he added.

Talking to reporters in the capital yesterday, AAP leader Ashutosh echoed Sanjay Singh’s words. He said, “AAP wants to make it clear that our party has nothing got to do with Bukhari.”

He too accused the shahi imam of playing communal politics by refering to the incident where Bukhari invit-ed Sharif and not Modi for his son’s anointment. He said his party has no idea on whose behest the imam ex-tended his support to AAP. l

FO: Chinese president expected to visit Pakistan this yearn Agencies

Foreign O � ce (FO) spokesperson Tas-nim Aslam, during a media brie� ng yesterday, said that Chinese President Xi Jinping is expected to visit Pakistan this year.

“The exact dates are being worked out,” said Aslam. “Once we have con-� rmed the dates, we will make an an-nouncement in Islamabad and Beijing as per practice.”

The spokesperson also con� rmed the visit of Chinese foreign minister Wang Yi adding that the dates of the visit are being worked out.

However, a source had earlier told Dawn that Yi will be arriving in Islam-abad on Feb 9 on a two-day o� cial visit.

Responding to a question regarding Afghan refugees, Aslam added that Pakistan is hosting 1.6 million Afghan refugees. l

Copper mining threatens Afghan site of ancient Buddhist pastn AP, Mes Aynak

Treasures from Afghanistan’s largely forgot-ten Buddhist past are buried beneath sandy hills surrounding the ancient Silk Road town of Mes Aynak — along with enough copper to make the land glow green in the morning light.

An estimated 5.5 million tons of copper, one of the biggest deposits in the world, could provide a major export for a war-rav-aged country desperately in need of jobs and cash. But the hoped-for bonanza also could endanger rare artifacts that survived the rule of the Taliban and o� er a window into Afghanistan’s rich pre-Islamic history.

“The copper mine and its extraction are very important. But more important is our national culture,” said Abdul Qadir Timor, director of archaeology at Afghanistan’s Culture Ministry. “Copper is a temporary source of income. Afghanistan might ben-e� t for � ve or six years after mining begins, and then the resource comes to an end.”

The government is determined to develop Afghanistan’s estimated $3tn worth of minerals and petroleum, an untapped source of revenue that could transform the country. The withdrawal of US-led combat forces at the end of 2014 and a parallel drop in foreign aid have left the government strapped for cash. It hopes to attract global � rms to exploit oil, natural gas and minerals, ranging from gold and silver to the blue lapis lazuli for which the country has been known since ancient times.

Beijing’s state-run China Metallurgical Group struck a $3bn deal in 2008 to devel-op a mining town at Mes Aynak with power generators, road and rail links, and smelting facilities. Workers built a residential com-pound, but were pulled out two years ago because of security concerns. Nazifullah Salarzai, a spokesman for President Ashraf Ghani, said the government is determined to � nish that project.

Archaeologists are scrambling to uncover a trove of artifacts at the site dating back

nearly 2,000 years which shed light on a Buddhist civilisation that stretched across In-dia and China, reaching all the way to Japan.

“The more we look, the more we � nd,” archaeologist Aziz Wafa said as he scanned hilltops pock-marked with bowl-shaped hollows where copper powder once was melted down and painted onto ceramics. Excavators have found silver platters, gold jewelry and a human skeleton as they have uncovered the contours of a long-lost town that once hosted elaborate homes, monas-teries, workshops and smelters.

Behind Wafa is a cave in which three Buddhas are seated around a dome-shaped shrine known as a stupa. Two are headless; one was decapitated by looters who entered through a tunnel. The other head was removed by archaeologists and placed in storage along with thousands of other items.

Movable objects, including sculptures, coins and ceramics, are stored at the National Museum in Kabul. Larger objects, including stupas measuring eight meters (26 feet)

across and statues of robed monks 7 meters (23 feet) tall remain at the sprawling site, which is closed o� and protected by a special

security force. The roads are lined with armed guards and the archaeologists have no tele-phone or Internet access. l

Both TransAsia plane engines lost power before Taiwan crashn AP, Taipei

One of the engines on TransAsia Air-ways Flight 235 went idle 37 seconds after takeo� , and the pilots apparently shut o� the other before making a fu-tile attempt to restart it, Taiwan’s top aviation safety o� cial said yesterday.

The details were presented at a news conference in Taipei by Avia-tion Safety Council Executive Director Thomas Wang as preliminary � ndings from the � ight data recorder.

Wednesday’s crash into a river in Tai-pei minutes after takeo� killed at least 35 people and left eight missing. Fifteen people were rescued with injuries after the accident, which was captured in a dramatic dashboard camera video that showed the ATR 72 propjet banking steeply and scraping a highway overpass before it hurtled into the Keelung River.

Wang said the plane’s right engine triggered an alarm 37 seconds after take-o� . However, he said the data showed it had not shut down, or “� amed out”

as the pilot told the control tower, but rather moved into idle mode, with no change in the oil pressure.

Then, 46 seconds later, the left en-gine was shut down, apparently by one of the pilots, so that neither engine was producing any power. A restart was at-tempted, but the plane crashed just 72 seconds later.

Wang said it was too early to draw � rm conclusions about the reasons why the � rst engine ceased producing power.

“It’s only the third day so we can’t say too much,” Wang said. “We haven’t ruled anything out.”

It’s unclear why the second engine was shut down, since the plane was capable of � ying with one engine. Sev-eral Internet aviation sites, including Flightradar24, questioned whether the pilots may have turned o� the wrong engine in an attempt to restart the idled one.

Taiwanese Vice President Wu Den-yih, mindful of the island’s reputation as a tourist destination and its tense

relations with China where most of the � ight’s passengers were from, went to a Taipei funeral parlor for prayer ses-sions to pay respects.

At the parlor, where bodies are be-ing stored, Wu expressed condolences and praised pilot Liao Chien-chung, who died in the crash. The pilots may have deliberately steered the plane away from buildings and into the river in the � nal moments.

“When it came to when it was clear his life would end, (the pilot) meticu-lously grasped the � ight operating sys-tem and in the � nal moments he still wanted to control the plane to avoid harming residents in the housing com-munities,” Wu said.

“To the plane’s crew, the victims ... I here express condolences.”

Divers with a local � re agency found one female and three male bodies yes-terday along the muddy Keelung River bottom about 50 meters (yards) from the crash site, a Taipei City Fire Depart-ment o� cial surnamed Chen said. l

Merkel plays down Ukraine peace hopesn AFP, Moscow

German Chancellor Angela Merkel played down hopes of a rapid end to surging violence in Ukraine yesterday before � ying to Moscow with French President Francois Hollande in a new truce bid.

“We know that it is completely open as to whether we’ll succeed in achiev-ing a cease� re through these talks,” Merkel told reporters in Berlin, say-ing the surprise initiative to be put to Russian President Vladimir Putin was aimed at defending “European peace.”

“We don’t know whether that will succeed today, whether perhaps fur-ther talks on it are necessary,” she said.

Merkel said that through their visits to Kiev on Thursday and the imminent trip to Moscow, she and Hollande were seeking a quick end to the bloodshed and to revive the widely � outed truce accord agreed in Minsk last September.

Merkel and Hollande’s Kiev vis-it was part of the biggest push yet to resolve the 10-month con� ict, with Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko saying their talks raised “hope for a cease� re.”

European Union o� cials said Thurs-day that the bloc will blacklist more Russian individuals over Ukraine, and it is hoped that the possibility that broader sanctions could be toughened up will encourage Russia to agree to a peace deal.

Fighting for survivalAs fears have soared of an escalation in the con� ict and concern over possible divisions between the United States and Europe on whether to supply arms to Kiev, US Vice President Joe Biden said Ukraine was battling for survival in the face of escalating Russian mili-tary involvement.

“We, the US and Europe as a whole, have to stand with Ukraine at this mo-

ment,” Biden said in Brussels. “Ukraine is � ghting for their very survival right now.”

Hollande said they were heading to Moscow to “seek a deal” with Putin – who the West sees as the mastermind behind Ukraine’s pro-Moscow rebel-lion – that would help end the crisis in the long-term.

“Everyone is aware that the � rst step must be a cease� re, but that is not enough and there must be a com-prehensive settlement,” Hollande told reporters ahead of his departure.

The frantic high-level diplomacy to end the worst East-West crisis since the end of the Cold War came as US Secretary of State John Kerry also vis-ited Kiev on Thursday and Washington mulled whether to supply arms to the Ukraine army.

“President Putin can make the choices that could end this war,” Kerry said, voicing support for the “helpful” Franco-German plan to be put to the Russian leader yesterday.

As pressure grows for a peaceful res-olution to the con� ict that has killed over 5,300 people, rebel and Ukranian forces on the ground agreed a cease� re for several hours yesterday around the battleground town of Debaltseve to al-low civilians to leave, both sides said.

Evacuating civilians An AFP journalist in government-held Debaltseve said some 25 city buses sent by both the rebels and Kiev drove into the shattered town to take civilians out to their respective territories.

The sound of sporadic shelling could be heard in the distance but mor-tar bombardments in the town itself had halted after days of � erce � ghting.

Hundreds of civilians have been killed over recent weeks in east Ukraine as � ghting spiralled after insurgents ig-nored an earlier truce deal and pushed into government-held territory.

No con� rmed details have emerged of what exactly the new European peace proposal contains and there is much disquiet in Kiev after the col-lapse of the previous peace deal.

Kerry said that the plan is a “count-er-proposal” made by Merkel and Hol-lande to suggestions made earlier this week by Putin. The European plan was then presented to the US and Ukraine for their input Wednesday. l

IS punishes cleric who objected to pilot’s killingn Reuters

An Islamic State cleric who objected to the group’s decision to burn to death a captive Jordanian pilot has been re-moved from his post and will be put on trial, the Syrian Observatory for Hu-man Rights said yesterday.

The cleric, a Saudi national, had voiced his objections during a meeting of an Is-lamic State clerical body in the town of al-Bab in Aleppo province, said Rami Abdul-rahman, who runs the Observatory.

The killing was been widely con-demned by Muslim clerics. Even some al Qaeda-linked � gures denounced it as un-Islamic. A video released by Islam-ic State militants on Tuesday showed the pilot, Mouath al-Kasaesbeh, being burned alive in a cage.

The Saudi cleric had said those re-sponsible for the killing should face trial, the Observatory said. Abdulrah-man, whose organisation gathers infor-mation via a network of sources on the ground, said the group may now kill the cleric. l

Only 6 percent chance British election will result in majority governmentn Reuters, London

There is only a six percent chance the British election on May 7 will produce a majority government, according to analysis published yesterday, with op-position Labour leader Ed Miliband most likely to end up as prime minister.

The research, put together by poll-sters Populus and public a� airs com-pany Hanover, uses polling data and statistical modeling to generate prob-ability predictions for the outcome of the election, which is set to be a very close battle.

Both Prime Minister David Camer-on’s center-right Conservatives, who have ruled in coalition with the centrist Liberal Democrats since 2010, and the Labour party each have a 3% chance of winning an outright majority, it predicts. l

Abdullah responds to ISn Tribune Desk

Jordan’s King Abdullah II, a former commander of his country’s special forces, angrily vowed to bombard the Islamic State until his military runs “out of fuel and bullets” after the re-lease of a brutal video showing a cap-tured Jordanian airman being burned alive in a cage.

The o� cial Facebook page of The Royal Hashemite Court published a photo showing Jordan’s leader dressed in military fatigues. The same photo was published on the king’s instagram account eight months ago.

Jordan has carried out airstrikes against the Islamic State group, also known as ISIS or ISIL, in Mosul.

The Jordanian government has de-nied rumors the king was physically involved in aerial attacks.

Dubbed the “warrior king,” Jordan’s leader has clocked in 35 years of mili-tary service. l Jordan’s King Abdullah II in battle gear COURTESY

Herdsmen from the Kyrgyz ethnic group hold their falcons as they ride on horses during a hunting competition in Akqi county, Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous, China, February 1 REUTERS

Afghan Archaeologist cleans around Buddha statues inside a cave in Mes Aynak valley AP

‘We don’t know whether that will succeed today, whether perhaps further talks on it are necessary’

H U N T I N G W I T H FA L C O N S

8 Long Form Saturday, February 7, 2015DHAKA TRIBUNE

A heart stopping problem

If Dhaka, the capital of Bangladesh, is the heart of the country’s econom-ic, social, and cultural activities, the tra� c congestion in that city is the heart stopping problem for the entire country.

Dhaka is arguably the most densely populated urban area (amongst urban areas with population of 500,000 or more) and megacity (megacity de� ned as the urban area with population of more than 10,000,000) in the world (Cox 2012, Demographia 2014) with a population density of 44000/km2.

Dhaka cannot a� ord to allocate anywhere near the standard practice of 25% of land necessary for trans-portation infrastructure for a planned urban development. Tra� c congestion in a city of more than 15 million people crammed in a small land area of 347 sq km (Cox 2012) and even scarce transportation space is a no brainer. Numerous studies have revealed the woes of Dhaka tra� c congestion.

An article in CNN Travel website (Bennett 2012) calls Dhaka tra� c the worst in the world. For Dhaka, the de� nition of rush hour has been turned upside down because people can actually rush a bit during the time of least tra� c. During peak hours, traf-� c in Dhaka grinds to a virtual “stand still” for more than seven hours daily.

A 2012 research study (Mahmud et al 2012) provides an extensive list of causes and impacts of tra� c congestion in Dhaka. The study also identi� es a series of short, medium, and long term remedial measures to improve tra� c conditions in Dhaka.

As shown in the Mahmud et al and many other literatures, the causes of tra� c congestion in Dhaka are numer-ous including overpopulation, unau-thorized and overwhelming number of rickshaws (a manually pedaled tri-cy-cle), illegal parking, encroachment of sidewalks by vendors and illegal takeover of public spaces, inadequate or faulty tra� c signals, inadequate roadway space in both length and width, lack of enforcement and adherence to tra� c rules, unplanned roadway excavation, too many modes of transportation with varying levels of automation, and most importantly, inaction of tra� c management experts to help the situation.

These and many other problems can be broadly classi� ed into transpor-tation supply and demand manage-ment categories. Table 1 shows the most pressing supply and demand factors contributing in Dhaka’s tra� c congestion.

Like many other cities in the developing world, Dhaka has not grown in a planned way. Even if some level of development guidelines were adopted, those weren’t fully imple-mented due to lack of enforcement. Had there been adequate planning and proper implementation, there would have been much greater share of land allocation for transportation network, there would have been more orderly operation of mixed mode transpor-tation, and there would have been su� cient and synchronised tra� c signals in operation reducing the need for tra� c police on the streets.

Capacity of Dhaka’s scarce trans-portation network already cannot sup-port the unbridled growth of private cars, disorderly mixed use develop-ment without proper tra� c impact studies and lawlessness on the streets. Dhaka’s current mobility demand of 25 million trips a day (DTCA 2014) is only likely to get worse as the time goes and population of the city continues to climb. With Dhaka’s population projected to surge beyond 22 million by the year 2020, mobility in Dhaka is fast approaching to a complete halt unless a comprehensive mobility plan is adopted and implemented imme-diately.

Impacts of Dhaka’s tra� c conges-tion is severe – to say the least – and long lasting. If Dhaka is the heart of Bangladesh’s economic activities, then the transportation networks within the city and connecting it to the rest of the country is the network of artery of that economy. Disruptive mobility severely disrupts the natural economic growth.

Economic impacts of disruptive mobility in Dhaka are manifold includ-ing loss of productivity and output,

rise in physical and mental healthcare costs, degradation of quality of life, ir-reparable damage to the environment, and many more. E� cient mobility through the transportation network of Dhaka is critical for the economic de-velopment of the country. Bangladesh, as a rising economy, cannot a� ord to have this strangling mobility problem holding down the otherwise thriving economy.

An ailing heart can be resuscitated or replaced

With proper care and planned e� orts a weak heart can be brought to health only before it stops working and completely shuts down the entire body and the brain. E� cient mobil-ity of people and goods is the key to country’s economic vitality. As the tra� c congestion reduces so increases the mobility.

There is no silver bullet for reduc-ing tra� c congestion. Both supply and demand have to be managed in a coordinated fashion. Many thinkers of Dhaka’s tra� c congestion problem have come up with a number of good ideas to improve the situation.

A few are impractical but most are attainable with proper planning and careful execution. Table 2 lists ideas for tra� c congestion relief catego-rised into supply and demand side approaches.

Transportation Demand Manage-ment (TDM) has been a key strategy for tra� c congestion alleviation for quite some time in the developed world with mixed success. Irrespective of the past successes, TDM continues

to be touted as one of the key conges-tion mitigation strategies as the world tries to reduce the carbon footprint of transportation.

Encouraging alternative transpor-tation modes such as walking, biking, and public transit along with transit oriented development (TOD), contain-ment of urban sprawl, imposing higher cost of driving through increased park-ing fees, gasoline taxes, and roadway tolls, and ridesharing/carsharing are key TDM strategies being promoted and implemented in various parts of the world.

From time to time various strate-gies, as listed on the demand side in table 2, to manage travel demand in Dhaka have been tried with limit-ed success not worth mentioning. These strategies included relocation of government o� ces in other cities only to see them come back, banning rickshaws on major city thoroughfares resulting in mobility ine� ciency for a large segment of the population and creating higher congestion on other streets, late opening/closing of shopping centers and staggered weekly days of operation for shopping centers having negligible impact on tra� c, etc.

Car free day idea is likely to gen-erate huge resistance, hence govern-ment won’t be interested. Even if it is implemented it will only mask the tra� c congestion problem for some days and might create higher traf-� c demand following days. Proper enforcement of tra� c laws is a given. Without enforcement no policy can be successful.

On the demand side, Bangladesh government needs to implement a sustained long-term strategy to con-trol population growth in Dhaka and for shared mobility. All past attempts by the Bangladesh government to reduce tra� c demand in Dhaka were primarily unsuccessful because those were very reactive approaches and not as part of a comprehensive mobility plan.

Success of TDM strategies large-ly depends on human behaviour changes. Desired behavioural changes in terms of transportation choices people make can be achieved through sustained implementation of poli-cies that can in� uence such changes. Policies need to support long-term mobility goals through most e� cient management of existing infrastructure in addition to building new infrastruc-tures as necessary, supporting a low carbon transportation system.

Mode separation with a purposeA tra� c management approach to bring order in Dhaka’s chronic tra� c problemsn Nisar Ahmed

SUPPLY SIDE DEMAND SIDE

Lack of urban planning Over population creating huge mobility demand

Disproportionate (low) land allocation for transportation network

Unplanned growth in car ownership by the growing middle class

Incompatible mixed mode disrupting each other

Lack of e� cient multi-modal transportation

Ine� cient tra� c signal management Ine� cient public transport

Lack of tra� c law enforcement Inadequate footpath, bike lanes, parking

TABLE 1: Factors contributing in tra� c congestion in Dhaka

SUPPLY SIDE DEMAND SIDE

Implement one-way streets and grade separation

Relocate large establishments and interna-tional trading activities outside of the city

Develop adequate pedestrian facilities Reduce private cars and remove non-mechanized vehicles including rickshaw

Improve public transportation with rapid transit

Stagger business hours by activity type

Provide dedicated bike lanes Control city population growth

Build � yovers, expressways Manage parking through high fees

Modernize tra� c signals and other controls

Implement car free days

Build more road and network connec-tivity

Implement and encourage shared mobility

Remove illegal encroachments Fully enforce tra� c laws

TABLE 2: Ideas for alleviating tra� c congestion in Dhaka

Though Dhaka’s tra� c situation is desperately anarchic, some level of order can be restored with innovative tra� c management approach

9Long Form Saturday, February 7, 2015DHAKA TRIBUNE

Only building expensive new infrastructure cannot solve tra� c congestion problem (Mann 2014) unless people are motivated by clearly demonstrated economic bene� ts in order to adopt TDM strategies in their transportation choices. When a country gains economic prosperity its demand for mobility and transporta-tion grows.

A good example is China. Demand for automobile in China has grown manifold over the last few decades with the increased buying capacity of prosperous Chinese middle class. Chinese cities are now faced with un-precedented tra� c congestion and air pollution generated from the vehicular tailpipe emission.

Even though China has the land and money to build new transpor-tation infrastructure, they are fully aware that this problem cannot be solved only through building new in-frastructure. China is now aggressively promoting TDM strategies in combi-nation with the development of new transportation infrastructure to satisfy the mobility needs of the future.

Most of the supply side ideas in table 2 can be achieved through better management of existing infrastruc-ture. Building more arterial and con-necting roads are almost impossible in Dhaka due to very dense develop-ments that must be demolished in order to build new roads.

A comprehensive and coordinated long-term mobility plan for Dhaka must address both supply and demand side issues supported by appropriate policies. Below are a set of supply and demand side ideas that can be implemented to help bring order to the chaotic tra� c in Dhaka providing the foundation for long-term mobility planning and policy implementation.

Supply side considerations

Dhaka is heavily developed and the population density is exasperated by the conversion of one/two story single unit houses into high-rise apartment complexes. There is no land space left to expand existing or build new trans-portation infrastructure except for building multi-layer expensive vertical infrastructure.

Even though the allocation of land for transportation within the existing built-out city is not feasible, it is con-ceivable to support higher propor-tion of the tra� c throughput on the existing network if the capacity is fully utilised through better management and organisation of tra� c. Money spent in establishing order in tra� c would likely have higher return on investment (ROI) than expensive new infrastructure.

Major thoroughfares in Dhaka are reasonably wide, but not utilised e� ciently. For e� cient utilisation and better management of given roadway space following supply side strategies should be considered. These strate-gies are not expected to solve Dhaka’s congestion problem completely, but would be a good set of � rst steps to bring order in the tra� c chaos that exists today, a necessary prerequisite for future mobility planning.

Separation of modes: The single

most detrimental cause for Dhaka’s tra� c congestion is the mixed mode tra� c vying for space on the road-ways. To some, rickshaw is the men-ace, and to others it is the private car that is the culprit. The fact is that both these and other modes that need road-way space are not going to go away; in fact, they are all needed and can co-exist through better management.

While the demand for cars and rickshaws must be identi� ed and man-aged, it is not necessary to put them at odds with each other. What is needed is to ensure that various modes can operate smoothly without disrupting each other.

That goal can be achieved by segregating each travel direction of all major streets into dedicated pathways for modes categorised into three – non-motorised rickshaws and bicycles, low occupancy motorised vehicles, and high occupancy buses.

When buses, cars, and rickshaws are allowed to travel con� ict free in their dedicated space they all have the potential to travel at their natural speed and not get bogged down by jam created by other modes resulting in better � ow. Even if one mode slows down it won’t a� ect the other modes.

In a mode segregated roadway, buses may travel on inner lane with at-ground or elevated pullouts/ramps for stops. Inner lane operation and isolated stops will prevent buses from making illegal stops.

Low occupancy vehicles should travel in the middle lane(s) with dedi-cated access/egress and turns allowed only at designated locations. This will allow cars to travel at their natural � ow and prevent them from making illegal stops and street parking.

Rickshaw is part of Bangladesh culture and identity and should be preserved as long as possible. Rickshaw has its own industry that provides employment for millions of people and provides transportation for millions more.

Unless a viable transportation mode for the masses is introduced as replacement and employment for the displaced workforce can be found, rickshaw should not be removed. In order to better manage rickshaw tra� c the left-most part of the pavement should be dedicated for them.

Two lanes in each direction for non-motorised tra� c will help rick-shaws and bicycles travel separate from buses and autos. A dedicated fourth lane in between bus and car lanes when space permits, or the bus/car lane should be designated for emergency vehicles such as ambulanc-es, � re engines, and to clear stranded vehicles blocking roadway due to accidents or malfunction. Also the sidewalks must be adequate, properly designed, and encroachment free to ensure smooth pedestrian tra� c.

E� cient and desirable high occupancy transportation: A dou-ble-decker or articulated bus can carry many more travellers than the cars occupying the same roadway space.

From purely a transportation space utilisation perspective, cars are the most ine� cient because they occupy more space per traveller than any other modes (Litman 2013).

The picture below demonstrates roadway space necessary for 72 people travelling by bicycles vs cars vs a bus. This picture was commissioned by the planning department of the city of Munster, Germany. Most often than not, cars are not fully occupied. On the other hand, a bus (regular, dou-ble-decker, or articulated) can carry large number of travellers resulting in far more e� cient use of the transpor-tation space.

A public bus system can be much cheaper solution than subway/metro if operated e� ciently, maintaining a desired level of service and with easy access/egress through con� ict free stops. An example of highly successful public bus system is the Curitiba Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) system in Curiti-ba, Brazil (Goodman et al. 2007).

An automated fare collection system can generate pilferage-free revenue that might be enough to pay for the operating cost. Even though car tra� c has grown exponentially in Dhaka in recent years a large portion (more than 40%) of the mobility needs of Dhaka is met by the existing bus system (Mahmud et al. 2012).

A more e� cient bus service oper-ating in a dedicated lane will likely increase the share of this mode as a result of some rickshaw passengers switching over to the bus mode, resulting in higher revenue for the bus operators in a system that already generates a healthy pro� t.

Higher revenue creates the potential for increased competition among bus operators, which is likely to further increase the level of service. A more e� cient and comfortable bus system might also attract some car travellers back to public transit. A ded-icated bus lane can later be converted into a metro rail track. A public transit system operating on a dedicated lane without all the amenities of a true BRT can be coined as “Bus-only Lane Transit” or, in short, BLT.

Better tra� c � ow on local streets: Unlike megacities in developed world tra� c congestion in Dhaka starts from the local streets. Due to increased car ownership, narrow local streets that were not designed for mixed mode bi-directional tra� c often gets clogged from car tra� c.

Tra� c � ow on local streets can be smoothed by implementing one-way tra� c with some connector streets providing bi-directional � ow between one-way streets. One-way streets will increase the capacity and � ow on local streets by allocating the full pavement width to tra� c in the same direction.

Where street width permits, one-way streets may provide separate lanes for motorised and non-motor-ised vehicles. For connectivity to ma-jor thoroughfares two parallel one-way streets can be used – one for access and the other for egress.

These one-way connectors to major roadways should be designed to allow for motorised and non-motorised ve-hicles getting on/o� the thoroughfares con� ict free. Also, large buses and trucks may be restricted on certain local streets.

Demand side considerations

Demand for mobility will continue to grow as the population of Dhaka grows and economic activities continue to thrive. Smart management of existing infrastructure and travel demand, and building new facilities only when absolutely necessary should be the approach.

In order to better manage demand for mobility, approaches should be developed based on a few principles. These principles include most e� cient use of available transportation space, dissemination of traveller information to help travellers make the right travel choice, and transformation towards environmentally sustainable trans-portation. Based on these principles, following mobility demand manage-ment measures should be considered for adoption.

Encourage biking and walking: All sidewalks and crosswalks (at grade, elevated, and underground) must be encroachment free and safe. This is easier said than done. It requires strong political will and strict enforce-

ment. Until a safe walking environ-ment is provided, foot tra� c is likely to spill over to the pavement disrupt-ing vehicular tra� c and creating tra� c congestion.

Bicycle tra� c should be combined with rickshaws in the dedicated non-motorised outer lane. It is possi-ble that bicycle, walking, and rick-shaw modes combined can support 45% - 50% of mobility needs of Dhaka dwellers given that rickshaws alone currently supports 38% of mobili-ty needs (Mahmud et al. 2012) and bicycling is gaining popularity among young travelers.

Meeting close to 50% transpor-tation demand with zero pollution modes would be exemplary. In order to achieve that goal an allocation of about 40% of the travel-way width that includes the sidewalk for these non-motorised modes would be justi� ed.

Encourage high occupancy in private cars: Presently, 8% of mobility needs in Dhaka are met by private cars and another 11% by taxis and three-wheelers, popularly known as CNGs. The name CNG is derived from the abbreviation of its operating fuel, Compressed Natural Gas (CNG). Com-bined together, these low occupancy modes support less than 20% of mobil-ity needs, but they occupy more than 30% of travel-way width.

Allocation of no more than 30% width or a single lane for these modes would provide them more than their fair share. In parallel, government should promote and help people share rides. If the allocated road space feels inadequate to car travellers it might motivate them to consider ride-shar-ing or car-sharing.

In some parts of the world higher occupancy in private cars are incentiv-

ised through special carpool lanes, tax deductions, and other monetary in-centives. Such incentives are likely to be abused in Bangladesh due to lack of enforcement and corruption and will not produce desired results. Instead, car owners should be encouraged to share available seats in their cars with fellow travellers in order to reduce congestion on the dedicated car lane.

Facilitate e� ective traveller infor-mation: Information of the prevailing travel conditions can help travellers make the right choice and help reduce congestion. Knowledge of current tra� c bottlenecks and status of public transit service can help travellers decide whether to take an alternate driving route, use public transit, or bike/walk.

Information systems can help travellers form ride-sharing pools with other travellers having similar trip patterns. Government can either develop these information resources or encourage private sector to develop them through grants, competitions, soft-term bank loans, etc. E� ective traveller information can help reduce congestion.

Develop policy for environmen-tally sustainable transportation: An environmentally sustainable mobility policy should prioritise e� cient use of non-motorised and public transporta-tion modes and gradual shift towards pollution free motorised vehicles.

Dedicated pathway for non-mo-torised and mass transit is essential for them to share larger percentage of mobility demand in Dhaka. As the de-mand for mass transit grows, electric powered light rail system should be introduced to replace buses in major corridors of travel.

Gasoline and CNG powered private cars should be discouraged through introduction of high import and congestion taxes for those vehicles. Government may also introduce a VKT (Vehicle Kilometer Travelled) tax to discourage driving. In order to pro-mote electric and alternative (carbon free) fuel vehicles, government may consider tax bene� ts for production, sale, and purchase of these vehicles, especially when a zero emission vehi-cle replaces a fossil fuel based one.

High level policy considerations

Though Dhaka seems to be in a com-plete tra� c chaos already, we may not have seen the worst of it. As the mo-bility demand on the scarce city road network continues to grow with the growth in population and economic activities, tra� c is expected to become more chaotic. There is still time to plan and prepare for the future trans-portation demand and mobility before it gets completely out of control. That plan has to be comprehensive, coordi-nated, and sustainable.

A forward looking mobility plan must take into account everything that have impact on and are impacted by transportation, making it compre-hensive. It must identify the players and the processes for execution of the plan, both from capital development and long-term operation perspectives. Implementation and operation should be based on sustainability. It is not

enough to simply provide transpor-tation and mobility if it cannot be sustained.

Addressing mobility issues begins at the top of the government where the legislature must set the policy and a clear direction, � rst. Government of Bangladesh has taken the � rst step by creating the Dhaka Transport Co-or-dination Authority (DTCA) through a legislative act, Dhaka Transport Coor-dination Authority Act, 2001 following a recommendation that came out of the World Bank funded Dhaka Urban Transport Project (DUTP).

DTCA is created with the right vision, but it is dependent on many other government agencies for the implementation of its mission (DTCA 2014). In order for DTCA to be e� ective in its mission, it needs to have an independent governing body that can focus on DTCA activities. DTCA must also have the right and adequate sta� resources for planning, promoting, funding, coordinating, and manag-ing the execution of mobility related projects.

Because Bangladesh has a central-ised government that sits in Dhaka where all government and most economic activities take place it is inconceivable how the pressure of population and mobility demand on Dhaka can be eased without creat-ing strong urban centres around the country where people can participate and enjoy similar economic and social activities that Dhaka o� ers.

Strong local and regional govern-ments with jurisdiction to set, collect, and spend tax revenues, develop and execute regional land use and trans-portation plans, and create business and job opportunities can help redis-tribute urban population resulting in eased population pressure on Dhaka.

Conclusions

Dhaka’s tra� c woe is the result of lack of proper land use and transportation planning and has been exasperated by lack of tra� c management and law enforcement. Though Dhaka’s tra� c situation is desperately anarchic, some level of order can be restored with innovative tra� c management approach.

Also, unplanned organic growth of Dhaka didn’t leave much room for new transportation infrastructures. In addi-tion to the current development plan for the new Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) lines, planners and policy makers can implement a few immediate tra� c management approaches in order to bring some order in the disorderly tra� c in Dhaka.

Tra� c problem in Dhaka is unique because of the unparalleled mixed mode (motorised and non-motorised) mobility demand created by the most densely populated urban area in the world. There isn’t any solution exam-ple for a problem of this proportion that Dhaka could readily adopt. Dhaka has to come up with its own solution.

Long-term policy strategies for management of population growth in Dhaka and empowering DTCA would help to alleviate tra� c congestion in Dhaka. Mode separated thorough-fare along with one-way streets can be � rst implemented as a test case along one corridor. A test bed will help learn and re� ne the design and implementation.

Dhaka must try a comparatively inexpensive and sustainable mobility solution that proportionately empha-sizes both motorised and non-motor-ised transportation according to their mode share. Expensive transportation solutions can come later as the econo-my grows with a sustainable mobility in place. l

Nisar Ahmed is program coordinator at Metropolitan Transportation Commission (MTC), USA. This paper was prepared for 1st IRF Asia Regional Congress held in Bali, Indonesia.Road space occupied by 72 people on bicycles vs cars vs a bus COURTESY

A schematic of proposed mode separated Dhaka street created with streetmix.net COURTESY

Even though car tra� c has grown exponentially in Dhaka in recent years a large portion (more than 40%) of the mobility needs of Dhaka is met by the existing bus system

All past attempts by the Bangladesh government to reduce tra� c demand in Dhaka were primarily unsuccessful because those were very reactive approaches and not as part of a comprehensive mobility plan

6½’Bike lane

6½’Bike lane

6½’Bike lane

10’No turn lane

12’Bus lane

12’Bus lane

10’Drive lane

6½’Bike lane

6½’Side walk

6½’Side walk

1’ 1’ 1’ 1’4’

Public needs rule of law, not revengeIt is not prudent when discussing steps being taken against criminals

committing violent acts in the name of political protests to talk of revenge.

We are concerned that some recent public statements, such as the remark made by a deputy inspector general of police that the police “have the ability to claim two lives against each one taken,” detract from the purpose of bringing peace and security for the public.

As public servants tasked with maintaining law and order, senior law enforcers have a duty to keep rule of law paramount. They should not risk creating any room for doubt that law enforcers will only use lawful means when ful� lling their duty to protect the public.

The public needs calm and stability. This is not helped by talk of revenge or of political parties “patrolling” the streets as this only prolongs the cycle of violence.

Punishment has to remain the prerogative of the judiciary and independent courts. There is no place for extra-judicial punishment or unlawful violence in the name of upholding the law.

The prime minister has stated that existing laws are enough to tackle violence and anarchy. Every practical e� ort and necessary resources should be provided to help law enforcement authorities prove that this is the case.

It is imperative that only constitutional means are used to uphold law and order.

Responsible o� cials and politicians must not risk making statements that might in� ame the situation or which undermine public con� dence in the impartiality of law enforcement agencies.

Tackle the causes of gold smuggling We commend the success of customs o� cials and intelligence

agencies in their e� orts to apprehend gold smugglers.Over 631kg of illegally smuggled gold was seized from

aircraft and airports alone during the 15 month period to last October. It is vital that authorities act on the extensive evidence uncovered

implicating sta� members and o� cials inside Biman Bangladesh Airlines and the CAAB of collusion with gold smuggling syndicates.

Some 11 syndicates have been found to be directly involved in gold smuggling at the nation’s airports, seven at Dhaka airport, one in Sylhet and three at Chittagong airport.

The cancer of corruption and criminality caused by gold smuggling must be rooted with the utmost urgency. There can be no tolerance of such criminality. For security reasons alone, aviation o� cials and cabin crew found involved in smuggling have to be brought before the law and punished.

It remains important also for the government to address the causes of gold smuggling. Customs o� cials are limited in their ability to apprehend all smuggled gold, and syndicates are relentless in pursuing new methods to carry out gold smuggling.

As gold is a legal product, it would make sense for the government to reform the legal framework to make it easier to import gold through legitimate channels. This would not only help reduce criminality but would also help reduce the high domestic price for gold which limits Bangladesh’s jewellery industry’s e� orts to export their products overseas.

The government must make sure gold import rules are � t for purpose in facilitating trade , rather than providing an incentive for smugglers.

The right way to protestJanuary 26SammyVery well said … though the piece misses a key fact that, in fairness, previous editorials have pointed out: It is this government that has repeatedly and repetitively used brute force through the police, RAB, and BCL to stop the constitutional right of opposition parties to have peaceful rallies, meet in their o� ces, and otherwise organise. Yes, yes, I know the oft-repeated, worn-out refrain of the apologists that “if we allow them to have rallies, they will turn violent” … which is essentially suppressing the constitution for very convenient conjectures by a regime that is, apparently, scared of meeting its opponents without the armed might of the state (and state-outsourced BCL) shielding it.

RetiredBUETSammy: Yes, the government must share some of the blame. But calling hartals when you know it will lead to violence is never acceptable. Two wrongs do not make a right, or earn support from neutral voters such as myself.

SammyRetiredBUET: Lol … “voter”? They have those in Bangladesh … I mean in a sense other than the “voters” of North Korea and Saudi Arabia? I guess you are right … if all the opposition parties can simply disappear and accept totalitarian control by the God-ordained one-party, one-family re-gime, everything would be just nice and dandy. All this freedom of speech and freedom of peaceful assembly, and freedom of associating in political parties at their o� ces is a nefarious conspiracy of war criminals, of course! Got it.

Editorial10 DHAKA TRIBUNE Saturday, February 7, 2015

CALVIN AND HOBBES

PEANUTS

Be heardWrite to Dhaka Tribune

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It is imperative that only constitutional means are used to uphold law and order

Make it easier to import gold through legitimate channels

CODE-CRACKER

ACROSS1 Fondle (6)4 Limb (3)7 Banishment (5)8 Locomotive (6)11 � oor covering (3)12 Ugly amphibian (4)13 Soft sheepskin (4)15 Borders (5)16 Remedies 95)20 Headwear (4)23 Bait (4)24 Pinch (3)25 Exact satisfaction for (6)26 Perfect (5)27 Was ahead (3)28 Praises highly (6)

DOWN1 Greek island (5)2 Obvious (7)3 Prophet (4)4 Peruvian capital (4)5 Dash (4)6 Obtain (3)9 Show tiredness (3)10 Joke (3)14 Wealthy (7)17 Cricket score (3)18 Work unit (3)19 Appears to be (5)20 Conceal (4)22 Auction (4)24 Nothing (3)

CROSSWORD

How to solve: Fill in the blank spaces with the numbers 1 – 9. Every row, column and 3 x 3 box must contain all nine digits with no number repeating.

SUDOKU

How to solve: Each number in our CODE-CRACKER grid represents a di� erent letter of the alphabet. For example, today 18 represents G so � ll G every time the � gure 18 appears.You have two letters in the control grid to start you o� . Enter them in the appro-priate squares in the main grid, then use your knowledge of words to work out which letters go in the missing squares.Some letters of the alphabet may not be used.As you get the letters, � ll in the other squares with the same number in the main grid, and the control grid. Check o� the list of alphabetical letters as you identify them.

CODE-CRACKER

CROSSWORD

SUDOKU

YESTERDAY’S SOLUTIONS

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y ZWhat Tarique should have saidJanuary 23

Hafeejul AlamPeople have not forgotten the BNP’s misrule from 2001-2006. Every time Tarique opens his mouth, and his mother acts or reacts, they remind people of the bad old days, and con� rm that BNP as a political party has not changed at all. In the name of “oborodh” what the BNP is doing now, in collu-sion with Jamaat, is morally wrong and politically suicidal. It is only increasing the public’s su� ering and is isolating them from the people.

OperatorHafeejul Alam: I am an independent of 65 year in age. I remember Awami League’s great days, 1972-75 and BNP’s misrule by Zia. I also recall how India welcomed and backed Ershad’s godlike rule with Hasina’s support.

I remember BNP’s dark days in 1991-95, 1996, and the 2001-06 misrule of the military strong-man Zia’s party. And last but not least, Bangla-desh’s wonderful days of Hasina’s people-friendly administration. I had my passport ripped and my citizenship stripped in 1974 due to the strength

of my pen. The same old journalistic culture was revived in 2009. I am so proud of Hasina.

roseYes, Tarique could have tried to build a better relationship with the existing government by not saying bad stu� about our father of the nation.

Operatorrose: While Hasina continues to be vindictive, irrational, and destructive both politically and personally towards Ziaur Rahman, his wife, and two sons. Always drawing � rst blood and blaming, instigating, threatening, and villifying unabated towards the Ziaur family by any means necessary, using both political and state power. As a Bangladeshi, how can I be more proud of Hasina, whose head and heart lies in Bharat, and her control extends to Bangladesh through the Awami League. All name-calling and criticisms welcome.

zkBeautifully written piece. Bravo!

The absurdity of canine insultsJanuary 24

vhsIt’s about time someone spoke in defense of man’s best friend. Bravo Esam Sohail.

ZiaA really splendid article. Loved your style and good luck in your thought-provoking article. I hope the high and mighty reads it and understands it.

KaliA very good point, well made. Too bad that the Begums are unlikely to take your friend’s advice.

Karl HungusA thoroughly enjoyable read. Reminded me a lot of the Pearl Jam song “Rats,” for some reason.

Evil People PoliticsSimply excellent. If my dog Wally could read this, he would have given it two paws up!

Police perplexed, mob brave it outJanuary 26m sirajullahGreat news! People are � nally rising up! When people wake up no political power can resist it.

roseIndeed! Stern action must be taken against all the miscreants.

Guest1Good to know.

Intelligence asks BTRC not to allocate remaining 3G spectrum

January 22Mostafa ProttoyWhat on Earth ...

Zia Ur RahmanThat is the end of digital Bangladesh!

Arch BishopTypical of the party which shut down all newspa-

pers in 1975 … notwithstanding the “civil society’s” e� orts to ignore that fact.

Syed Moazzem HussainA management of thieves …

Palak: A computer lab will be set up in every school by 2021

January 23

AbsWhat kind of a digital country is this, where

WhatsApp and Viber get banned at the drop of a hat without any court order? Jottoshob natok!

Probir BidhanUnwise bu� oon.

DU teachers demand punishment to arsonists

January 22

Babul SarwarPeople in the government are pledge-bound to

work constitutionally for themselves and for others. Do we see that? Let’s be true to ourselves! The

government and the ruling party are two di� erent entities, let’s not mix them. The government

should bring the arsonists to book as well as the law enforcement agents who are guilty of killing and

vanishing people.

n Sushovan Dhar

Barack Obama’s much-hyped visit to India was lauded by liberals and conservatives alike. The

chief guest at the 66th Republic Day celebrations, he is also the � rst sitting US president to visit India twice. Apart from grabbing all headlines, pundits acclaim that his visit was “indisputa-bly successful and game-changing.”

So elated was the Indian prime minister, the ex-RSS pracharak, that he sported a black and gold pinstripe suit estimated to have cost Rs1m. The founder of this Hindu right-wing organisation, KB Hedgewar, must have turned around in his grave to see Modi’s extravagant transformation. But, their sworn enemy, Mulayam Singh Yadav’s son, Akhilesh, the Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister was gaga over the bene� ts that this visit would bestow.

Assuming a statesman-like manner, Mr President held more than half rounds of talks with the Indian PM in an atmosphere of great camaraderie.

Discussing diplomacy, economics, and matters of strategic relations, they ended up signing a good number of agreements.

Deals aimed at unlocking billions of dollars in nuclear trade and deepening defense ties were announced, steps which both sides hope will help estab-lish an enduring strategic partnership. The agreements centred around nu-clear deal, closer strategic partnership, defense, renewable energy and climate change, investment and trade, etc.

A long joint statement with Modi was released to grace the occasion. Obama also spoke at a number of occasions highlighting the importance of achieving durable Indo-US ties to guarantee a safe and secure world, and thereby a better future for all.

A major highlight of the tour was the agreement “Joint Strategic Vision for the Asia-Paci� c and Indian Ocean Region.” This strategic maritime part-nership, according to a White House press release, would extend from “Africa to East Asia.”

It also stated that “regional prosper-

ity depends on security.” And there-fore, a� rmed that “safeguarding mari-time security and ensuring freedom of navigation and over � ight throughout the region, especially in the South China Sea” was crucial. China sharply reacted to this statement and spelt out its disquiet over any intrusion on its “backyard.”

The reaction was palpable, as the Asian giant is locked in numerous dis-putes with Vietnam and many others in the South and East China seas over

the control of islands, reported to be holding huge reserves of oil and gas.

The US was also keen to enlist India in Asia-Paci� c Economic Coopera-tion (APEC), a network of 21 Paci� c Rim member economies that seek to promote “free trade” and economic cooperation throughout the Asia-Pa-ci� c. Though Russia and China have welcomed India’s inclusion in the forum, the subjacent US keenness to forge a partnership with India is in its interest to “contain” China’s growing military and economic power in the Asia-Paci� c-Indian Ocean region.

The US expects India to play a piv-otal role in Asia. Let us not forget that in this new century, China’s emergence as a major power counter-weighs American commercial predominance.

This growing Indo-US proximity could only be understood through the lens of American geo-political ambitions for Asia, which is a com-ponent of its even larger project of constructing a Eurasian (and therefore global) dominance. It has been almost two decades that the Indian govern-

ment has abandoned any semblance of non-alignment towards a foreign policy that could accommodate it as a junior partner of the US.

While many see it only as a capitula-tion to American imperial interests, let us not forget that Indian capitalists and elites nurture ambitions for an increas-ing slice of the global pie; and there-fore, any bonhomie with the Ameri-cans could be mutually bene� cial.

The global hegemons need local mandarins or satraps in helping man-age the US hegemony in di� erent parts of the world in exchange for certain privileges and bene� ts. The latter would be a function of the balance of forces between the lead wolf and its sidekicks.

Another “great achievement” boasted by the establishment is over the nuclear deal. However, according to concerned citizens working on the issue, “the Indian government has capitulated to aggressive US demands and agreed to a deal that indemni� es American nuclear vendors from the consequences of accidents caused by

design defects in their reactors.” The government has, in fact, passed

the buck of any potential American liability to Indian taxpayers. The people of India could end up paying for “mistakes” by multinational capital as it happened in Bhopal in 1984 with 3,787 deaths, 558,125 injuries including 38,478 temporary partial injuries and approximately 3,900 severely and per-manently disabling injuries, according to government a� davits.

The US capital gets its way on nuclear liability as India concurs to compensate billions of dollars for immature American technology, and then ensuring that American compa-nies will be set scot-free, even with de-sign defects. Not o� cially announced so far, but it is pretty obvious that this is the substance of Modi’s “diplomatic victory.” You get vaporised, you pay for it as well.

Well, in the end, what was under the surface fully came into the sun. l

Sushovan Dhar is an activist. He is based in Kolkata.

11Op-Ed Saturday, February 7, 2015DHAKA TRIBUNE

n Ziauddin Choudhury

There are at least four hostili-ties that are currently ongo-ing in di� erent parts of the globe, waged by militants in the name of Islam – in

Syria, Yemen, Pakistan, and Nigeria. In two of these areas – Syria and Nigeria – the militants have seized control over a sizeable territory and established their own rebel governments; in the other two, the groups do not have a de� ned territory of their own but have acquired su� cient power to fend o� authorities who are in legal control of the countries they are � ghting within.

And then there are armed groups in several other Muslim countries who wage war from time to time to make their mark in the causes they believe in. For the uninitiated, it would appear there is a common goal among these geographically-dispersed groups of launching a worldwide Islamist movement through militancy, and an Islamist government where possible. In reality, it is not.

For starters, the militants who are currently waging a war in Syria and have been able to seize territories in civil war-torn Syria and Iraq calling it Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS), have no a� liation with the militants � ghting in three other countries.

The ISIS militants are Sunni Mus-lims who would chop o� the heads of Shia Muslims as happily as of non-Muslims who they say they are � ghting. In Pakistan, the holy wars are waged by the Taliban, o� cially called Tehrik-e-Taliban of Pakistan (TTP), mostly concentrated in the northwest territory of Pakistan.

TTP Talibans are no closer to ISIS militants in character and strategy than the countries they operate from. The group in Yemen technically is an o� -shoot of al-Qaeda, the militants purportedly behind the terror attacks in di� erent parts of world (including Europe and USA), who so long seemed to be more interested in harassing governments and countries they are

opposed to than in establishing a gov-ernment of their own. The militants who stand out most in atrocities, nefariousness, and ferocity operate under the name of Boko Haram in Nigeria.

Despite their geographic dispersion and apparent diversity in background and character, there are two common factors that cast them in unity. The � rst is their stated goal of establish-ing Islamic governments and society, starting with the host countries and then in others.

The second is Sunni a� liation of all four militant groups that are patently hostile to the Shias. Irrespective of these common characteristics, each group has adopted di� erent strategies and tactics to achieve their goals. The rub lies in the di� erence in each group’s interpretation of Islam and Sharia laws.

ISIS, which has o� cially declared itself to be a state, has named the ter-ritory it occupies as the new caliphate and its commander as the caliph. It has demanded that all Muslim countries accept the suzerainty of the caliphate and pay obedience to it.

It has also declared a war against governments that are opposed to it, including Syria and Iraq, and of course those countries which are deemed by it as enemies of Islam. Strangely, but not illogically, it is also opposed to Shiite Islam, because in their version

of Islam only Sunnis are the pure fol-lowers of the religion.

Tehrik-e-Taliban of Pakistan is an umbrella organisation of militants whose stated objectives are to change the Pakistani state into an Islamic state based on their harsh and rigid interpretation of Sharia laws. It � ghts its war with volunteers drawn from the local seminaries and arms and ammu-nitions that the group has been able muster locally from war booties.

TTP is mostly an insurgency that operates within Pakistan territory without global ambitions like ISIS, but it has expressed its sympathy and support whenever a militant group attacked western interests. Like ISIS, the group and its leadership entirely consist of Sunni Muslims who do not consider Shias to be part of the Islamic brotherhood.

Boko Haram (literally meaning Western education is forbidden) was founded as a Sunni Islamic fundamen-talist sect advocating a strict form of Sharia Law and developed into a Salaf-ist-jihadi group in 2009, in� uenced by the Wahhabi movement. Boko Haram seeks the establishment of an Islamic state in Nigeria.

It opposes the Westernisation of Nigerian society and the concentration of the wealth of the country among members of a small political elite, mainly in the Christian south of the country.

Al-Qaeda, which began as a radical Islamist movement in the last two dec-ades springing from the Middle East, probably had the biggest in� uence in the growth and development of similar radical movements in many Muslim and non-Muslim countries.

The movement believes that to restore Islam, a frontline movement is needed to establish “true” Islamic states based on Sharia and rid the Muslim world of non-Muslim in� uences. Despite being the parent radical Islamist group, al-Qaeda is currently fractured and the factions operate in di� erent countries under local leadership such as Yemen, Egypt,

and Afghanistan. Unfortunately, although the current

Islamist wars are conducted by dispa-rate groups with no apparent coordina-tion or an overarching objective, to the outsiders, including the overwhelming majority of Muslims, the radical wars are viewed under one umbrella – radi-cal Islam.

And there are good reasons for this broad brush treatment. One, to this day, the Muslim countries have not uni� ed to counter this image with any meaningful e� ort. Two, Muslim soci-eties have not addressed the issue of radicalism among their youth serious-ly. Three, Muslim countries have failed to address sectarian and religious rifts in societies, often stirring them instead of preventing.

These failures have happened because most Muslim countries have governments that pay lip service to democracy, do not have transparency in governance, and lack rule of law. Absent any opportunity to participate in the governance process or elect people of their choice, people turn to radical measures to change their so-cieties. In religion, they � nd an easier way to show their de� ance, because they could then justify their actions as legitimate holy war to establish the rule of God.

It is not too late to turn the tide. For the immediate future, the Muslim countries need to unite to bring down the warring militants starting with Syria. For the longer term the Muslim countries need to bring all their citi-zens within the government process with rights for all including rights of free speech, rights of movement, and rights to justice, irrespective of reli-gious or sectarian a� liation.

Governments need to educate their youth through curriculum and training true teachings of religion, tolerance, and mutual respect. Results may not appear right away, but a start is better than none at all. l

Ziauddin Choudhury is a political analyst and commentator.

In the name of Islam

n Syed Rumman

There is a di� erence between power and responsibility. In the name of politics, two major

political parties in Bangladesh are running after power, but not in order to take responsibility for the people or to serve them.

Politics is a very broad term, and it has widespread signi� cance. Politics governs a system where people choose their representatives considering their policies and their ability to lead people of a particular constituency or territory through a democratic process. This democracy enables these leaders to be lawmakers, so that they may enact laws for the territory or the state that ensures people’s rights and the securi-ty of their lives.

Conversely, what is happening in Bangladesh? Can we actually call it politics or democracy? This is clearly a � ght between two “Rahman” families to take ownership of Bangladesh. None of these two parties are willing to compromise.

Their intolerance and stubbornness are jeopardising the lives of the general people of Bangladesh, leading the country to socioeconomic instability. In the middle of their political blame game, general people are su� ering.

There is no one to wipe the tears of these vulnerable people. They cannot escape from this power-grabbing game. Deprived poor and middle class people try their best to move forward, but in return they are the ones who get killed, burnt, and lose family members and loved ones through no fault of their own.

The question can be raised: How many so-called political activists have actually understood what they are doing? Do these political thugs, in the name of the political activism, know what they are doing? Do they realise that this savagery may come back to them and make them su� er some day? Alas! They don’t know that their own people harbour disdain for them.

Many politicians have children living or studying abroad, safe from petrol bombs or other atrocities. A majority of the people of Bangladesh would still like to see a tolerant politi-

cal system, and exercise their demo-cratic voting rights.

On the streets, tea-stalls, shopping centres, buses, bus counters, trains, rail stations, and in ferries – people are always going on with conversations about the politics of Bangladesh and its future.

We talk about the spirit of the Liberation War. With great dismay, we forget to recall the spirit of social and economic independence for people. It has not been achieved yet, long after the Liberation War. Is this what people wanted in 1971?

Yes, disregarding the political di� erences, the time has come to ask ourselves: Do we really want to be slaves of the two families? I sincerely thank the two leaders for running and leading the country all these years.

But a question still remains: Can’t I have the dream to be the prime min-ister of Bangladesh in order to serve the people? Can’t you have that dream too? Why does this so-called democra-cy only allow two families to run this country? Why can’t we have a system that would allow a person to be the prime minister of Bangladesh for no more than two terms?

But, it is evident that, time and again, we have to let our dream slip through our � ngers, we have to let people die, and we have to be tolerant of this intolerant, so-called democracy in Bangladesh. In the name of democ-racy, people are being fooled, they are being robbed, and they are being enslaved.

However, we have to come out of this. We need a complete independ-ence that ensures our freedom to move across the country and to run businesses without fear.

It is my strong conviction that the general people of Bangladesh still hope for a country where there will not be any atrocity or intolerance. Instead, there will be a politics uphold-ing its ethos.

In that Bangladesh, you or I can also be the prime minister, so that we may serve the people, not be their master. l

Syed Rumman is a poet and former Governor and Vice-President of London Metropolitan University, .

Dead bodies speak of the atrocities committed by ISIS REUTERS

For the immediate future, the Muslim countries need to unite to bring down the warring militants

Indian capitalists and elites nurture ambitions for an increasing slice of the global pie

Why can’t you or I be PM?

Obama and Modi are changing the game

BIG

STO

CK

12 DHAKA TRIBUNE Saturday, February 7, 2015

Sport1414 CR7 returns for depleted Real in Madrid derby

Chaos, crowd trouble as Ghana cruise into � nal

Did you know?Michael Clarke (83.6)

has the second highest World Cup batting

average, behind Andrew Symonds’ 103

(5+ dismissals)

7 DAYSTO GO7 DAYSTO GO

BANGLADESH PLAYERS’ RATINGS

Sahidul Alam Sohel – 6.5

The Sheikh Jamal Dhanmondi Club keeper had very little to do in the � rst half and was decent in the next. Overall, a better performance than the previous game. Looked edgy in the set pieces and high-ball situations.

Mamunul Islam – 8

The captain kept control of the mid� eld. Distributed some � ne balls and also fell back to defend when needed. Provided the assist for the goal with a pin-point low corner.

Jamal Bhuiyan – 8

Another solid performance from the newly-recruited Sheikh Jamal Dhanmondi Club defensive mid� elder. Ever since his debut for the national side, Jamal never had a bad game. Having a great tournament so far.

Rayhan Hasan – 9

One of the brightest performers on the � eld. His specialised long throw-ins caused havoc among the Thai defenders and helped Bangladesh create more scoring opportunities. The right-back was also solid in defence.

Hemanta Vincent Biswas – 7

The hero of the last match was quite for most parts of the game. Always marked by the opponents, he still had a good e� ort on goal.

Nasir Uddin – 8.5

The veteran defender scored the winning goal. It was apparent in his body language that he was strong-minded. Nasir was also the pilot of the back-four, protecting the defence and making some key interceptions.

Zahid Hossain – 8

The star winger kept on proving that he can be a consistent performer for his side. Zahid’s quick movements made the Thai defenders’ job di� cult. He outpaced his markers most of the times and created some lovely chances.

Yeasin Khan – 7.5

Overshadowed by the performance of his defensive pair Nasir, Yeasin provided adequate support to keep the defensive wall sheltered throughout the game. His chemistry with Nasir made sure Bangladesh were unhindered.

Sohel Rana – 8

He never stood still. Despite playing out of his favourite position, Sohel played the key role of creating most of the chances. Dancing through the right wing, he always kept the opponents’ defence on the alert.

Yeamin Munna – 6.5

Not the brightest performer of the game. He could not keep up with the pace and contributed less than the other defenders. Well, he made sure he did not make any blunder.

Jahid Hasan Emily – 7.5

Emily seemed to have regained his con� dence after a poor display in the � rst match. The striker looked dangerous in the � rst half-an-hour with two shots on target. Emily also did some defensive work.

Shakib to turn out for St Lucia Zouks in CPL 3n Mazhar Uddin

Ace Bangladesh all-rounder Shakib al Hasan will be featuring for Saint Lucia Zouks in the third season of the Ca-ribbean Premier League Twenty20 as the franchise bought him for $50,000 during the player auction last Thursday.

The poster boy of Bangladesh crick-et previously played for Barbados Tri-dents in the inaugural season of the CPL in 2013 and performed exception-ally well grabbing remarkable bowling � gures of 6/6 against Trinidad and To-

bago Red Steel.Shakib was retained by the Tridents

for the second edition last year. Howev-er, the 27-year old was not able to take part as he reportedly � ew to the West In-dies without obtaining the No Objection Certi� cate from the Bangladesh Cricket Board. The BCB subsequently banned him from overseas domestic competi-tions but later withdrew his ban.

Darren Sammy led the struggling Zouks last season as they managed to win only two matches out of nine but the inclusion of Shakib alongside En-glish cricketer Kevin Pietersen and Kiwi batsman Ross Taylor will surely add strength in the batting department.

Shakib, however, will only be avail-able for the opening round as Bangla-desh are scheduled to host South Africa in July this year. The CPL will get un-derway on June 21.

Meanwhile, another Bangladeshi cricketer Tamim Iqbal, who played for the Zouks in the inaugural season, was not picked by any team. The dashing left-hander was placed in the $20,000 category. l

Coach, skipper pleasedn Raihan Mahmood

Bangladesh coach Lodewijk de Kruif relished the moment of moving into the � nal of the Bangabandhu Gold Cup while skipper Mamunul Islam thanked the countrymen for the outstanding support before vowing to put their best again in the � nal against Malaysia Un-der-23, slated for tomorrow at Bangab-andhu National Stadium.

The coach and the skipper were in an ecstatic mood after the � nal whistle, hugging each other and celebrating but both tried to contain their emotion and appeared normal in the post-match press conference. “We are professionals and we have to deal with the pressure. Yes, for the moment I can say we are relieved as Bangladesh played good football for the 90 minutes. The � rst half was a splendid one as it was the perfect display of what we had planned and trained,” said the 45-year old Dutch coach.

“I told the players that Thailand are trailing and they will be a di� erent one in the second [half]. They piled up pressure and the team looked a little shaky but in the dying stage Bangla-desh were in good shape again. Overall, it was a good day” he added.

The Dutchman looked a bit worried while talking about the preparation of the � nal. “We have just one day and it’s hard to prepare the team physi-cally and mentally within that period. However, I think Thailand were better than Malaysia and we have won against them (Thailand),” said De Kruif.

Regarding Nasir Uddin Chowdhury’s match-winning goal, De Kruif said, “We trained a lot with set pieces and it is the result of the hard work.”

Mamunul also thanked the strong weekend crowd for the fantastic support. “I thank all the countrymen, the specta-tors and my federation president for keep-ing their faith upon us. We want to win the � nal also. It was a superb feeling to take the � eld in front of the packed crowd. We have improved match by match, I think. In our third match of the tournament today, we have produced a good show commit-ting less mistakes. However, we still have to improve and win the � nal,” said the 23-year old playmaker.

Man-of-the-match Zahid Hossain on the other hand said his best is yet to come. “I do not think my best has been displayed. I want to win the title for the country and then I can say it is my best display.” l

Siddikur misses cut, � nishes joint-75th n Tribune Desk

Bangladesh golfer Siddikur Rahman missed the cut following the second round of the Maybank Malaysian Open at Kuala Lumpur Golf and Country Club yesterday. Siddikur � nished joint-75th alongside 13 other golfers. After hitting � ve-over-par 77 in the � rst round, the 30-year old Ban-gladeshi golfer fared much better in the second round, striking two-under-par 70 but it was not enough as he ended with an overall score of three-over-par 147.

Siddikur began the day on a bright note, smashing a birdie in the very � rst hole. He went on to card three more birdies and two bogeys in the $3m tour-nament. England’s Lee Westwood and Spain’s Alejandro Canizares jointly lead the standings with an overall 11-un-der-par 133. l

Packed crowd creates festive atmospheren Raihan Mahmood

An unbelievable scenario of a jam-packed crowd cheering the Bangladesh football team prevailed at Bangabandhu National Stadium yesterday when the hosts took on Thailand in the second semi� nal of the Bangabandhu Gold Cup.

Talking about scarcity of spectators in the football stadium is a common subject in the sports arena but it was a completely di� erent day yesterday. For the � rst time since the Super Cup � nal in 2009, the big bowl was packed to the rafters. Thousands of ticket-de-prived fans watched the game in the big screen situated at the east side of the gallery outside the venue.

Bangladesh Football Federation priced the tickets of the semi� nals at Tk80 and 150 and all the tickets were sold out. In the black market, prices soared up almost double and triple of the original amount. Football’s regu-latory body in the country distributed 10,000 green and red scarfs among the spectators. Finance Minister Abul Maal Abdul Muhith, chairman of the tour-nament’s organising committee, wit-

nessed the whole game alongside Dep-uty Sports Minister Arif Khan Joy and BFF president Kazi Salahuddin. All of the distinguished guests tied the scarves around their necks during the game.

The reaction of the crowd was also notable. They cheered the team, booed the referee for any decision that went against the home team. The red and green waves in the stands, created due to the scarfs, also provided an eye-catching scenario.

The crowd exploded into wild cele-brations when Nasir Uddin Chowdhury slammed in the winner in the 40th min-ute. The roars and excitement seemed to reach a sky-high level. The whole stadi-um was celebrating the joyous moment. It was a precious moment indeed as the Bangladesh football team have rarely pro-vided moments like this in recent years.

The Bangladesh players were also thankful to them. Amidst a standing ova-tion, they performed a lap of honour with the national colour following the end of the game. All the spectators were cheering their heroes and skipper Mamunul Islam thanked them for such an overwhelming response in the post-match presser. l

Choktavee praises Bangladesh, crowdn Raihan Mahmood

Thailand coach Phomrat Choktavee yesterday termed the crowd factor as the major di� erence before congratu-lating Bangladesh for sealing a spot in the � nal of the Bangabandhu Gold Cup.

The Thai coach said it was the crowd that inspired the home team. “Playing in front of the big crowd de� nitely has an e� ect. Regarding the concentration, I must say it (crowd) helped and in-spired the Bangladesh players and had an adverse [e� ect] on my team,” said Choktavee after the end of their semi-� nal against the hosts at Bangabandhu National Stadium.

The Thai coach pointed out that the Bangladesh defence had a superb day and kept his attackers at bay. “The Bangladesh defence put up a good show and succeeded in stopping my attackers in the important zones. During the interval, I asked my players to play more in the ground rather than playing it in the air. However, we could not do it. Congratulations to Bangladesh and I can say we are taking a lot of good experience from the tournament,” he added. l

The packed Bangabandhu National Stadium crowd wave in excitement during the second semi� nal of the Bangabandhu Gold Cup between Bangladesh and Thailand Under-23 yesterday MAINOOR ISLAM MANIK

Bangladesh displayed an impressive performance to defeat Thailand Under-23 1-0 in the second semi� nal of the Bangabandhu Gold Cup at Bangabandhu National Stadium yesterday. Here, Shishir Hoque assesses the performance of the Bangladesh footballers.

SportDHAKA TRIBUNE 13Saturday, February 7, 2015

Bolt to open season on Valentine’s DaySix time Olympic champion Usain Bolt is to open his 2015 World Championships season on Valentine’s Day at the Camp-erdown Classic, where he’s expected to run the 400m. Bolt will compete at the meeting at Jamaica’s National Stadium, organized by his personal coach Glen Mills, for the � rst time in years as he aims to make a solid start to a season highlighted by the August 22-30 World Championships in Beijing. Bolt anchored Jamaica to gold in the 4x100m relay at the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow last year, but he missed much of the season, o� cially bringing his abbreviated 2014 campaign to a close in August after racing just four times. He did set a world best for the rarely run indoor 100m with a time of 9.98sec at a meeting in Warsaw. The 28-year-old, who holds the world re-cords in the 100m and 200m, said earlier this year his early season race schedule would include more quarter-mile races.

–AFP

Franklin ends New Zealand careerNew Zealand all-rounder James Franklin e� ectively ended his international career after it was announced Friday the 34-year-old all-rounder had signed a two-year contract with English county Middlesex. The left-hander is set to play as a non-overseas player with the county, subject to clearance from the England and Wales Cricket Board, on account of his Irish ancestry. Such a classi� cation would render Franklin ineligible to continue to represent New Zealand, for whom he has featured in 31 Tests, 110 one-day internationals and 38 Twenty20 matches, although the last of these appearances was in 2013. “Whilst I’m very honoured to be joining Middlesex for the next few years, I want to � rst take my cap o� to Wellington for whom I’ve had a hugely enjoyable and memorable career in New Zealand,” said Franklin in a Middlesex statement.

–AFP

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DAY’S WATCH

World champion football freestyler, John Farnworth performs tricks in front of “Lionel Messi and a Universe of Flowers” by Takashi Murakami with an estimate of £200,000-300,000, (270,000-400,000 Euros, $ 307,000-460,000 USD) during a press preview in central London yesterday, ahead of a Sotheby’s Fundraising Auction on February 12, 2015. Celebrated artists have donated works of art ‘in support of the ‘1 in 11’ campaign launched earlier this year by FC Barcelona Foundation, Reach Out To Asia (ROTA) and UNICEF, to extend educational opportunities to children in Bangladesh, Indonesia and Nepal AFP

Australia’s Lee to aid Ireland in World Cup run-upn AFP, London

Brett Lee became the latest former Aus-tralia cricketer to be handed a World Cup role with another side when it was revealed Thursday he would serve as Ireland’s bowling coach in the lead-up to the tournament. 

Cricket Ireland’s announcement that it had secured the recently retired fast bowler’s services came hours af-ter con� rmation that former Australia batsman Mike Hussey had been drafted in by South Africa.  

Cricket Ireland said in a statement that Lee, 38, had signed a short-term deal to work with the side ahead of the World Cup in Australia and New Zea-land, which starts on February 14.

One of the fastest bowlers of his generation, Lee took 310 wickets in 76 Tests with his 221 one-day internation-als yielding 380 wickets. Now Ireland coach Phil Simmons hopes Lee can pass on some of his experience as the minnows look to defeat a Test nation for the third successive World Cup.

“Brett Lee has a wonderful knowl-edge of fast bowling, and his special insight of Australian pitches will help give our bowlers further con� dence ahead of their group matches,” said Simmons in a Cricket Ireland statement issued from their Dublin headquarters.

“I’m sure all our bowlers will bene-� t from the experience that a two-time World Cup winner has accumulated, especially in the pressure situations of a global event,” the former West Indies batsman added.

“It’s a fantastic opportunity for our bowlers to learn from a living legend and one I’m sure they’ll all bene� t from.” l

Angry fans assault Peruvian team after lossn AFP, Lima

Angry fans swarmed the changing rooms of Peruvian top-� ight club Alianza Lima and assaulted four play-ers on Thursday after a humiliating 4-0 drubbing in the Libertadores Cup.

“Between 24 and 30 people entered the Alejandro Villanueva Stadium and went to the changing rooms, where there was an attempt to beat up the players,” Interior Minister Daniel Urres-ti told journalists.

He said stadium personnel quickly intervened and managed to eject the intruders.

But four players were assaulted, in-cluding winger Victor Cedron, who was cut on the eyebrow and went to the po-lice to press charges.

Supporters were irate after Alianza su� ered the embarrassing rout at the hands of Argentina’s Huracan in their � rst-leg match for the � rst stage of the Libertadores Cup, the top South Ameri-can club tournament, on Tuesday. l

No Sachin gives Pakistan WC hopen AFP, New Delhi

India go into the World Cup without the reassuring presence of retired bat-ting superstar Sachin Tendulkar for the � rst time since 1992, which surely must bring relief to arch-rivals Pakistan.

Pakistan have lost all their � ve World Cup meetings against India and Tendulkar, who featured in all of them, proved a stumbling block on at least four occasions.

India and Pakistan face each other in a high-voltage clash at the Adelaide Oval on February 15 to kickstart their campaigns in the 2015 edition of crick-

et’s showpiece event.Tendulkar, who retired in 2013 as

the world’s leading run-getter in both Test and one-day cricket, added colour to the World Cup, both literally and metaphorically.

Coloured clothing was introduced to the World Cup when Tendulkar made his tournament debut in Australia and New Zealand in 1992 after the � rst four editions were played in whites.

Over the next six editions, the prolif-ic Mumbaikar scored more runs (2,278) and centuries (six) than any other bats-man in the tournament, ending his World Cup career with a creditable av-

erage of 56.95.Tendulkar often spoke of his dream

of winning the World Cup for India, saying he was inspired as a 10-year-old by the country’s triumph in the 1983 editon when Kapil Dev’s men stunned favourites West Indies at Lord’s.

He saw action from close quarters as a ball boy at Mumbai’s Wankhede stadium when India co-hosted the World Cup with Pakistan in 1987, two years before he burst on the world scene as a 16-year-old. Tendulkar was the tournament’s leading scorer when India made the semi-� nals in 1996 and the � nal in 2003. l

Sharapova targets Olympics as Russia tackle Polandn AFP, Paris

Maria Sharapova leads Russia in their Fed Cup World Group opener against Poland this weekend looking to take a step closer to the 2016 Olympics.

It will be the � rst meeting between the two countries and a rare Fed Cup appearance by 2012 Olympic silver medallist Sharapova, who must com-pete in the women’s team event if she wants to bid for gold in Rio next year.

The Russian star, runner-up to Sere-na Williams at the Australian Open last Saturday, has played just three ties for Russia since her 2008 debut and has a 3-1 singles record.

Champions the Czech Republic open their defence against Canada in Quebec City, as 2014 runners-up Germany host Australia in Stuttgart and France travel to play Italy, last year’s semi-� nalists, in Genoa.

The hardcourt clash on Saturday and Sunday at Krakow Arena will see

27-year-old Sharapova return to Fed Cup for the � rst time since February 2012.

Attention will also be focussed on her new team captain Anastasia  Mys-kina, who a decade ago threatened to pull out of the Russian team if Sharapo-va was selected.

Russia are favourites with world number two Sharapova joined by 27th-ranked Sveltana Kuznetsova, a two-time Grand Slam winner, Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova (34), and Vitalia Di-atchenko (82).

World Group newcomers Poland will be led by former Wimbledon � nalist Agnieszka Radwanska, ranked eighth, after her run to the fourth round of the Australian Open, alongside her young-er sister Urszula, ranked 135.

Canada, whose best result was a semi-� nal in 1988, will be without world number seven Eugenie Bouch-ard. In Stuttgart, Australia face Germa-ny for the third time in four years. l

Cricket World Cup will be clean, says anti-corruption chiefn Reuters, Sydney

“Evil” illegal gamblers using the grooming methods of paedophiles to try and corrupt cricketers have not gone away but the game’s anti-corrup-tion chief Ronnie Flanagan is con� dent the upcoming World Cup will be clean.

Match and spot-� xing scandals have dogged cricket over the last few years but Flanagan said the authorities in host countries Australia and New Zea-land had done everything in their pow-er to ensure the tournament was free of corruption.

“I think it is important that (fans) can come with con� dence knowing

this will be true competition between teams fought out on ability and per-haps little bit of luck,” he told a news conference on Friday.

“A tournament that is free of corrup-tion or the threat of corruption.”

Flanagan, head of the Internation-al Cricket Council’s Anti-Corruption and Security Unit (ACSU), praised the national and state governments in host countries for enacting legislation to criminalise manipulating sporting events.

Education programmes have also been put in place to ensure that every player at the Feb. 14-March 29 tourna-ment is aware of how the illegal gam-

blers try to exert their in� uence.“We know there are rotten people

out there, criminal people, who will do all in their power to get at players and others of in� uence in the game,” Flana-gan added.

“They’ll trick them, they’ll coerce them, they’ll try and attract them, they’re almost like paedophiles in how they attempt to groom them to get them to do whatever suits their nefarious in-tentions in terms of illegal betting.

“We have gone to great lengths in a very multi-faceted way to ensure they don’t get their way.”

Flanagan said the Australian and New Zealand lawmakers, police and his

unit had already been working together for two years to prevent any corruption.

Education programmes for play-ers had also borne fruit, he said, with a 100 percent increase in reports from players about approaches from suspect individuals.

“Many of them when we investigate them are innocent approaches but I’m very encouraged that we are getting more and more of those reports,” he said.

“That gives us increased material for our intelligence database. At this World Cup, we have one central hub where all that intelligence � ows in, is analysed and where one common intelligence picture is produced.” l

Ronnie Flanagan, head of the ICC’s anti-corruption and security at a press conference in Sydney yesterday AFP

Switzerland’s Fanny Smith reacts after taking � rst place during the Women’s Snow Ski Cross Final at FIS World Cup in Arosa yesterday. Smith won the competition ahead of second placed Swedens’ Anna Holmlund, third placed France’s Ophelie David and fourth Norway’s Marte Hoeie Gjefsen AFP

SportDHAKA TRIBUNE14 Saturday, February 7, 2015

FRUSTRATED HOME CROWD GONE CRAZY

1. Ghana mid� elder Andre Ayew (2L) celebrate scoring with teammates during their 2015 African Cup of Nations semi� nal against Equatorial Guinea in Malabo on Thursday

2. Security o� cers evacuate a supporter who made his way onto the pitch 3. Members of the media take cover after Equatorial Guinea fans threw objects 4. Riot police shield Ghana’s John Boye (21) and team mates from objects thrown by

Equitorial Guinea fans at the end of the � rst half5. A police helicopter hovers over the pitch as Equitorial Guinea fans throw objects 6. A Ghana supporter holds her face at the end of the match7. Policemen evacuate a tribune AFP/REUTERS

Chaos, crowd trouble as Ghana cruise into AFCON � naln AFP, Malabo

Missile-throwing home spectators caused a long and chaotic second-half de-lay as Ghana set up an Africa Cup of Na-tions � nal with Ivory Coast by outplaying hosts Equatorial Guinea 3-0 Thursday.

Play was halted eight minutes from time as disgruntled home fans � ung various objects on the pitch and a break of more than 35 minutes ensued before order was restored and play resumed.

A police helicopter � ew low over

the ground while Ghanaian supporters, feeling threatened by the home crowd, spilled into the area surrounding the pitch at the 15,000-seat Estadio de Malabo.

A Ghana Football Association tweet read: "Police helicopter hovers above the pitch with the Ghana fans in real danger. It's now like a war zone."

Players, coaches and the match of-� cials stood on the pitch throughout the drama while slow-reacting security o� cials ushered Ghanaian supporters into one section of the ground.

Although the game was stopped on 82 minutes, the Gabonese referee played only a few minutes before end-ing the one-sided game.

There were also reports of tear gas being used to quell the violence. The crowd trouble followed a controversial

quarter-� nal last Saturday in which Equatorial Guinea scored o� a dubi-ously-awarded stoppage-time penalty en route to shock 2-1 win over Tunisia.

Jordan Ayew converted a 42nd-min-ute penalty for Ghana, Mubarak Waka-so struck a minute into � rst-half stop-page time and Andre Ayew tapped in on 75 minutes of the semi-� nal.

The � nal in port city Bata Sunday will be a repeat of the 1992 � nal won 11-10 on penalties by Ivory Coast after 120 goalless minutes in Dakar.l

Wilshere must master his own life: Wengern Reuters, London

Arsenal mid� elder Jack Wilshere needs to “master his own life” after being pic-tured this week holding a shisha pipe at a London night club, his manager Ar-sene Wenger said on Friday.

The England international, who has not played since November due to inju-ry, had been photographed smoking on

two previous occasions.“I have spoken with him about that

-- he is not a smoker,” Wenger told re-porters the day before the north Lon-don derby against Tottenham Hotspur.

“He is sorry about what happened, but he has to master his own life.

“When he is here, he has to follow the rules. This photo has been taken at half past 12 after the Superbowl (at the weekend).

“I don’t know what happened really. Away from the club, it is his responsi-bility to master his life.

“Today, everywhere you go people make photos, but one second of your life does not de� ne who you are.”

Wilshere responded to the photo by posting a video of himself on his Instagram account working hard in training.l

Dortmund in � ght for survival against Freiburgn Reuters, Berlin

Last season's Bundesliga runners-up Borussia Dortmund could never have imagined that Saturday's league clash against strugglers Freiburg will be key in their battle to avoid relegation.

But even the former European champions' most hardcore fans woke up to the danger ahead when Dort-mund lost 1-0 to visitors Augsburg on Wednesday to stay � rmly in last place after their 11th loss in 19 games.

They are now anchored in 18th spot on 16 points with Freiburg two ahead in 15th and if they are not to lose touch with the other relegation-threatened teams then they have to land their � rst win of the year.

Klopp will not have mid� elder Kev-

in Grosskreutz at his disposal after the Germany international picked up a thigh muscle injury on Wednesday.

At the other end of the table, Bunde-sliga leaders Bayern Munich may still be eight points clear at the top but are also yet to win this year.

There is no talk of any crisis at Bay-ern, who travel to lowly VfB Stuttgart, but Pep Guardiola's team has so far failed to convince. l

Ghana call for sti� action after fans injuredn Reuters, Malabo

Ghana have called for sti� action against Nations Cup hosts Equatorial Guinea after several Ghanaian support-ers were injured in attacks by home fans during Thursday's semi-� nal be-tween the two countries.

"It's a pity that this dark cloud over-shadows our success and we really need to see some sti� action taken by the Confederation of African Football (CAF)," said Kwesi Nyantakyi, presi-dent of the Ghana Football Association who is also a senior CAF executive.

At least � ve Ghanaian fans were

slightly injured by stones, bottles and other objects thrown at them by home fans during the 3-0 loss for Equatorial Guinea in the semi-� nal. There were also other injuries among o� cials, po-lice and home supporters.

"This kind of behaviour is just unac-ceptable," Nyantakyi told Reuters.

Some 500 Ghanaians � ew from Accra on chartered planes to watch their team and were collared into a section on the side of the stadium, away from the rest of the 15,000-capacity crowd at the Nue-vo Estadio de Malabo. When their team went 3-0 up, the celebrating Ghanaians were pelted with a rain of missiles. l

Jovetic axed from Man City squad for new signing Bonyn Reuters, London

The embarrassment of riches at Man-chester City's disposal was underlined as 22 million pounds striker Stevan Jovetic was left out of their squad for the Champions League and replaced by new signing Wilfried Bony.

Ivorian Bony’s arrival meant his new club had one more foreign player in their squad than they are permitted under UEFA rules.

As punishment for breaching � nan-cial fair play rules City are limited to just 16 foreign players in their squad rather than the usual 17. City manag-er Manuel Pellegrini decided he could make do with just three senior for-wards, Sergio Aguero, Edin Dzeko and Bony, leaving no room for Jovetic.l

Real’s Rodriguez to have surgery on broken footn Reuters, Barcelona

Real Madrid mid� elder James Rodri-guez will require surgery on a broken bone in his foot and is expected to be out for two months, the club con� rmed on Thursday.

“A fracture of the � fth metatarsal of his right foot has been detected. The player will have surgery in the follow-ing hours,” read a statement on the Real website.

Meanwhile, defender Sergio Ramos has su� ered a hamstring tear that could keep him out for up to six weeks, the La Liga leaders said on Friday.

Ramos limped o� during the � rst half of Real’s victory over Sevilla on Wednesday and tests revealed a more serious injury than � rst anticipated. l

Top-4 contenders face derby ordealsn AFP, London

The battle for Champions League quali� cation in the Premier League takes on new intensity this weekend with two high-stakes derby clashes involving teams pursuing a top-four � nish.

Arsenal, who trail fourth-place Southampton on goal di� erence alone, tackle north London rivals Tottenham Hotspur in a contest between two sides who have found form in recent weeks.

Liverpool, meanwhile, visit Everton, having climbed to within four points of the Champions League places with a haul of 16 points from a possible 18 -- a run matched only by Lyon in Europe’s � ve major leagues.

The weekend’s action begins at White Hart Lane on Saturday, where Tottenham will go in search of only a second win over Arsene Wenger’s Arsenal in eight encounters.

Both teams are in good shape, with Tottenham having lost only once in their last nine league games and Arsenal only once in their last eight.

Mauricio Pochettino’s Spurs, two points behind their local rivals in sixth place, have been given reason

for optimism by the news that Arsenal top scorer Alexis Sanchez will miss the game with a hamstring injury.

Liverpool’s trip to Goodison Park later on Saturday will be Steven

Gerrard’s last Merseyside derby before he leaves An� eld for the Los Angeles Galaxy at the end of the campaign.

Everton, 12 points below seventh-place Liverpool in 12th place, will draw little encouragement from the news that Daniel Sturridge is in line to face them.

Southampton’s top-four bid was hit by a 1-0 loss to Swansea City last weekend and on Saturday they visit second-bottom Queens Park Rangers, who are without a manager following Harry Redknapp’s resignation.

Leaders Chelsea and second-place Manchester City, currently separated by � ve points, both  face apparently straightforward � xtures.

Chelsea, who held City to a 1-1 draw last weekend, visit Villa, who have gone eight games without a win and not scored in over 10 hours of league football, while champions City travel to third-bottom Hull City.l

CR7 returns for depleted Real in Madrid derbyn AFP, Madrid

World Player of the Year Cristiano Ron-aldo returns for a Real Madrid side otherwise stricken by injuries and sus-pensions as they look to beat Atletico Madrid for the � rst time in six meetings this season on Saturday.

Ronaldo completed his two-game ban for kicking out at Cordoba defend-er Edimar as the European champions sneaked past Sevilla to open up a four-point lead over Barcelona at the top of

the table on Wednesday.Left-back Marcelo misses out at the

Calderon after his appeal against his � fth yellow card of the Liga campaign was dismissed on Thursday.

Real boss Carlo Ancelotti is short of defensive options with Pepe also out with a rib injury, but he insisted he has con� dence in the inexperienced pair-ing of Raphael Varane and Nacho in central defence.

Atletico have bounced back from their heartbreaking Champions League � nal defeat at the hands of Real last season to beat them in the Spanish Su-percup and Copa del Rey over two legs this season. However, defeat this week-end would see them fall 10 points be-hind the league leaders and all but end their defence of the title. l

BUNDESLIGA FIXTURES Wolfsburg v Ho� enheim Mainz 05 v Hertha Berlin Freiburg v   Dortmund VfB Stuttgart v Bayern Munich Cologne v Paderborn Hamburg v Hanover

EPL FIXTURES Aston Villa v Chelsea Everton v Liverpool Leicester City v Crystal Palace Man City v Hull City QPR v Southampton Swansea City v Sunderland Tottenham v Arsenal

LA LIGA FIXTURES Atletico Madrid v Real Madrid Villarreal v Granada Levante v Malaga Real Sociedad v Celta Vigo

AFCON SEMIFINALEquatorial Guinea 0-3 Ghana J. Ayew 42-P, Wakaso 45+1, A. Ayew 75

1 2

45

3

6

7

MIDNIGHTS CHILDRENHBO Hits, 3:20pmCast: Rajat Kapoor, Vansh Bhardwaj, Anupam Kher

A pair of children, born within moments of India gaining inde-pendence, grow up in the country that is nothing like their parent’s generation.

MIGHTY JOE YOUNGStar Movies, 11:30pmCast: Bill Paxton, Charlize Theron A legendary � fteen-foot tall moun-tain gorilla named Joe is taken to an animal sanctuary in California by a zoologist and a young woman.

ENDERS GAMEHBO, 11:24pmCast: Harrison Ford, Asa Butter� eldYoung Ender Wiggin is recruited by the International Military to lead the � ght against the Formics, a genocidal alien race.

HAKA TRIBUNE Entertainment Saturday, February 7, 2015 15

WHAT TO WATCHTELEVISION

THE HUNGER GAMES: MOCKINGJAY PART 1 I PENGUINS OF MADAGASCAR (3D) I ROMEO V/S JULIET I BOYHOOD I BEAUTY AND THE BEAST@ Star Cineplex

NIGHT AT THE MUSEUM: SECRET OF THE TOMB I EXODUS 3D I THE HOBBIT: THE BATTLE OF THE FIVE ARMIES I THE PENGUINS OF MADAGASCAR 3D I EK CUP CHAINTERSTELLAR

@ Blockbuster Cinemas

THEATRE

AREFIN SHUVOto tie the knot n Entertainment Desk

Are� n Shuvo, one of the busiest actors of Dhallywood � lm industry, will tie his knot with his long time � ancé Arpita on February 16.

The bride, Arpita Samaddar, is a Kolkata born fashion designer. She has been working in Dhaka for the last eight years at an international organisation.

The duo got engaged on February 4 in Kolkata, India as Are� n is now visiting the bride’s residence.

The “Kistimmat” star will be back to Dhaka with Arpita on February 15, and just after the day the duo will have a programme for the wedding. l

n Entertainment Desk

Music band Savagery will perform in a live programme titled Positive Vibes on Ntv at 11:30pm today.

The band has recently made its debut in the music in-dustry by their short length album “Prayoshchitto”.

Their speciality is their experience with an emphasis in progressive rock-metal genre.

With a plethora of musical tastes and backgrounds ranging from heavy metal to progressive rock and hard-

core, the Savagery shows no limitations with their ability and style.

After several line-up changes, the band is now con-sists of six members. Their current line up is Shajjad Hossain Opu on vocal, Movi Kabir on lead guitar, Azmain Adil on guitar, Sharyar Hasan on drums and percussion, Tilon Sangma on bass and Mashuq Haque on keyboards.

With this formation, they are working on creating orig-inal songs of their own; their songs are formed of lyrics that have a de� nite social conscience. l

SAVAGERY to perform on live musical show today

Nazrul Sangeet soiree at IGCCn Entertainment Desk

Singer Rebeka Sultana will perform at a musical soiree of Nazrul Sangeet at the Indira Gandhi Cultural Centre in the cap-ital at 6:30pm. Born in a family with rich musical heritage, Rebeka has acquired recognition as a good exponent of Nazrul Sangeet in the country.

The singer commenced her musical training under noted trainers like Badrul Alam, Ramgopal Mohonto and Ustad Ful Mohammad.

She gave her � rst public voice at youth organization, “Khelaghar” and subse-quently acquired popularity on television with her immaculate presentation.

Between 1967 and 1969, Sultana won several awards for her contributions to Naz-rul sangeet, classical and patriotic songs in the country, most notably from the Paki-stan Arts Council and the Dhaka University.

Sultana has travelled to several coun-tries along with her diplomat husband where she has presented and promoted Bangladeshi culture as the literal cultural ambassador of Bangladesh. Sultana is, at present, the vice president of the Nazrul Parishad. l

Churchill drama Darkest Houron the way

n Entertainment Desk

The writer and production team be-hind Oscar-nominated British biopic “The Theory of Everything” is to re-unite on an epic drama about Winston Churchill’s second world war triumphs and struggles, Deadline reports.

Titled Darkest Hour, the new � lm will centre on a 1940 � ashpoint when British troops were stranded in Dunkirk and the prospect of victory appeared dim.

The screenplay from “The Theory of Everything” writer-producer Anthony McCarten begins just days after Chur-chill has been appointed prime min-ister, with the new leader faced with the choice of making a deal with Hitler that will establish Britain as a virtual puppet state, or � ghting on and risking likely defeat at the hands of the Nazis. Backing for the project comes from pro-duction company Working Title, which worked with McCarten on his biopic of theoretical physicist and cosmologist Stephen Hawking.

“We aim to present a Churchill you haven’t seen before, a new portrait that shows all his famous strengths but also adds new dimensions, such as the grave doubts he privately harboured,” McCarten told Deadline.l

CHRISTINA HENDRICKS joins cast of female-driven horror with KEANU REEVES

n Entertainment Desk

Christina Hendricks and Keanu Reeves have joined the cast of Nicolas Winding Refn’s “The Neon Demon,” the subversive female-driven horror tale that marks Dan-ish helmer’s follow-up to

“Only God Forgives.”Sold and � nanced by

Gaumont and Wild Bunch, “The Neon Demon” stars Elle

Fanning (“Super 8″).Abbey Lee (“Drive”), Jena

Malone (“The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part

1″), and Bella Heathcote (“Dark Shadows”) round

out the eclectic cast of up-and-coming actresses.

Refn’s partner, Lene Borglum (“Valhalla Ris-

ing,” “Only God Forgives”), is producing via their com-

pany Space Rocket.The key crew of “The

Neon Demon” comprises Refn‘s regular collaborators:

editor Matthew Newman and composer Cli� Martinez.

Gaumont and Wild Bunch are shopping the project at the EFM and have started discussions with US buyers.

The two Paris-based companies teamed on Refn’s last � lm, “Only God Forgives,” which world pre-miered in competition at Cannes.

Production is slated to begin March 30. l

n Entertainment Desk

The role of “Gone Girl,” the psycho-logical thriller would be any actor’s dream, says Rosamund Pike. The 36-year-old, who played Amy Dunne in the 2014 � lm, says the role that she played is “very empower-ing,” reports female� rst.co.uk.

“There’s no actress who wouldn’t dream of a character like that. As an actor, you think, ‘I’m never going to be good enough. I can see how far I want to reach with this and the potential, but I’m never going to reach it.’”

“But the other side of that, is you go home and think, ‘I can do anything I want. This is so extreme. It’s a ver-sion of being a woman that isn’t contained in any way.’” “She’s ex-treme. Yes, it’s a � lm about a mur-deress, but it’s very empowering, in some ways. It’s great to stretch every muscle and get to make good on every insane thought you’ve ever had,” Collider.com quoted Pike as saying.

Directed by David Fincher, the � lm also starred Ben A� eck, Neil Patrick Harris, Tyler Perry and Car-rie Coon in pivotal roles. l

ROSAMUND PIKE: Playing Amy in Gone Girl was empowering

SHREYA GHOSHAL ties the knot with beau Shiladitya

n Entertainment Desk

Playback singer Shreya Ghoshal, who has mes-merised audiences with her melodious voice over the years with songs like “Manwa Laage,” “Piyu Bole” and “Bairi Piya” among others, has

tied the knot with long time beau Shiladitya in a private ceremony on February 5.

On the Thursday night, the beautiful singer took to Facebook to announce her wedding to the “love of her life.” She posted, “Married the love of my life yesterday night (Feb 5) in a beautiful bengali traditional wedding in presence of our families and closest friends. Shiladitya and I both seek your good wishes in this exciting new phase of our lives!”

Along with the announce-ment, she posted this picture where she, dressed as a tra-ditional Bengali bride, poses with her husband Shiladitya, who is the founder of hipcask.com.

On January 30, Shreya Ghoshal had posted on her o� cial facebook page, without letting too much slip, “Don’t know if I’m super nervous or super excited.. Never felt like this before. Whatever I am up to I will let you know soon, but need your wishes. You are with me, aren’t you .” l

Boi Mela abuzz with book lovers at weekend

n Nure Alam Durjoy

The Amar Ek-ushey Book Fair is taking shape over the weekend, as visitors thronged yes-terday from

morning till early night, with a gap mid-day.

With Friday being a day o� , book-lovers of all ages came in droves, with more children in attendance from morning till 2pm.

There was a long queue from TSC to Bangla Academy late afternoon.

Sales of newly-arrived books were much higher for some better-known publication houses, Somoy Prokashan being one. Yesterday morning, they introduced Muhammed Zafar Iqbal’s new science-� ction tale, “Serina,” which drew many readers and sold

over 200 copies, Somoy attendants told the Dhaka Tribune.

Also yesterday, Dr Gokul Chandra and his family came to the fair from Mirpur, and bought a book of chil-dren’s stories from Tona Tuni’s stall.

He said there was no fear of vio-lence on the roads, as there was no hartal that day. And his child had in-sisted on visiting the fair, as it was the weekend.

Mujibur Rahamn, a vendor at Tona Tuni publications, said a decent num-ber of children had visited the stall, yet book sales were higher this day than they had been before.

“The authorities concerned took a great step by introducing Child Hour, but they should also keep an eye on them, and take an additional step by introducing a children’s discount,” said Ratan Kumar, another vendor at Tonatuni.

Jakaria Md Palash, Sisimpur’s ex-ecutive director, told the Dhaka Trib-

une: “It is encouraging to see so many children here. They are very excited to see the books.”

“We sold over Tk75,000 today,” added Palash.

Ferdous Alam, a caretaker at Duck publication, said the sales of chil-dren’s books fell short of his expecta-tions yesterday.

Friday was the � rst day of Child Hour. Both parents and children � ocked there from di� erent parts of the capital since 11am. Bangla Acad-emy was bustling with their enthusi-asm.

As part of Child Hour, Bangla Acad-emy arranged an art contest at around 8.30 am, which was inaugurated by the artist Hashem Khan.

At least 663 children participated, sources said.

The children sketched Shahid Mi-nar, the rally of freedom, 21 February protest, and others, using colours and pencils.

After submitting their drawings at the end of the competition, the chil-dren rushed to the stalls with their guardians, excited to buy the books they wanted.

Sales at Prothoma, Onno Prokash, Annesha Prokashon, and Adorno Pub-lication were not bad for a Friday, the attendants said.

At least 290 new books arrived, making the total number of new ar-rivals 582. With these, novels, collec-tions of poetry, collections of short stories remained high in number as the previous days of the fair.

Today’s programme:Today at 4pm, a discussion on Na-

tional Professor Abdur Razzak will be held, with Finance Minister Abul Mal Abdul Muhit presiding. Professor Salimullah Khan will present the key-note paper, with Dr Akbar Ali Khan, Dr Mizanur Rahman Shely and Professor Mesbah Kamal as seminar partici-pants. l

16 Back PageDHAKA TRIBUNE Saturday, February 7, 2015

AMAR EKUSHEYBOOK FAIR 2015

The ‘children’s special’ hours at Ekushey Book Fair yesterday sees child readers � ocking to the Bangla Academy since morning RAJIB DHAR

Jubo Dal activist killed in Begumganjn Our Correspondent, Noakhali

A Jubo Dal activist in Noakhali’s Be-gumganj upazila was hacked and shot to death allegedly by local thugs at the upazila’s Dokanghar area on Thursday night. The deceased, Md Sohel alias Pichchi Sohel, 32, was a resident of Lakshminarayanpur village in the same upazila, police said.

Sohel’s sister Fatema Begum said Sohel received a phone call around 9pm on Thursday, and shortly after-wards, local goons Rana and Rubel came to their home and requested So-hel to go with them.

“A few minutes after he went out with them, we heard the sound of a gun going o� . After a while, we were told that my brother was hacked and shot,” Fatema said.

Locals said they found Sohel’s bat-tered body lying beside the road in Dokanghar around 10pm; his family members and the locals rushed him to a local private clinic, where the on-du-ty doctor pronounced him dead.

Sohel’s family claimed Rana and Rubel killed him.

On information, police went and recovered Sohel’s body, and sent it to Noakhali Abdul Malek Ukil Medical College Hospital for a post-mortem.

Ainul Haque, OC at Begumganj Model police station, said Sohel, who was accused in several cases, had re-cently gotten bail from a � rearms case.

“He may have been murdered over a dispute on the division of ammunition,” the OC said, claiming that Sohel was in-volved with terrorism. A case was � led with Begumganj police in this regard. l

Myanmar nationalists threaten protests over Rohingya vote changen Reuters

Nationalist monks and some political leaders in Myanmar have threatened to hold mass rallies to protest a parlia-mentary decision giving the Rohingya ethnic minority voting rights in a ref-erendum to amend the constitution.

Most of Myanmar’s 1.1 million Ro-hingya Muslims live in apartheid-like conditions in Rakhine state in the west of the predominantly Buddhist coun-try. Many in Myanmar consider them illegal immigrants even though they have lived in the area for generations.

Few Rohingya are full citizens, but most hold temporary national identi-� cation cards known as white cards. They were able to vote in a 2008 ref-erendum to approve Myanmar’s mili-tary-drafted constitution, as well as in elections in 2010.

Parliament on Feb. 2 approved a referendum law that allows white card holders to take part in a future referen-

dum on amendments to the constitu-tion. Many say the constitution needs reform, because it reserves substantial power for the military and bars Nobel Laureate Aung San Suu Kyi from the presidency, among other contentious clauses.

While members of ethnic minorities including those of Indian and Chinese descent also hold white cards, about two thirds are Rohingya, according to the government.

The constitutional referendum has yet to be scheduled, but parliament’s decision also strengthens the chances that white card holders will be able to cast ballots in general elections later this year.

The prospect of the Rohingya being allowed to vote has alarmed nation-alist monks and politicians who have threatened to hold mass protests next week to pressure parliament to reverse its decision. l

PETROL BOMB ATTACK

Victims in pain, their dreams destroyed n Mohammad Jamil Khan in Dhaka

and Nazim Mridha in Rajshahi

Mamunur Rashid, 34, a betel leaf wholesale trader, was driving his truck to Pabna from Jhenidah. Upon reaching Charmatha in Bogra on Wednesday, his truck came under a patrol bomb attack. Before police and � re service o� cials could douse the � re, both the truck and 25% of Rashid’s body were burnt.

Losing everything in the attack, Rashid is now undergoing treatment at the DMCH burn and plastic surgery institute. Over the last 24 hours, three burn victims from Bogra and Feni have come to DMCH, raising the number of hospital burn victims to 120.

Dr Partha Shankar Pal, a DMCH burn institute resident surgeon, told the Dhaka Tribune that since the blockade began, 120 victims had been treated in

the hospital, with 64 still undergoing treatment. Among these 64, 13 are in critical condition, and six in the ICU, while seven others are in the high de-pendency unit, he added.

During a hospital visit, this corre-spondent talked with Rashid’s elder daughter, Mousumi Akther Sima, who said she has three other sisters and one brother, and their father had been running the business for the last 20 years. Upon collecting the leaves from Jhenidah and Jessore, he would sell them in Dinajpur.

Sima added that last Wednesday, when her father reached Charmatha at 2.30am, the truck came under attack. The truck helper and driver were also burnt, and admitted to Sahid Ziaur Rahman Medical College Hospital where they died.

“Now, my father’s condition is also

critical,” she said. “If he cannot work, then who will provide for us?” she added.

Meanwhile, the conditions of Mar-ium Rupa, 6, and Rakib Mia, 12, who were burned in Gazipur Wednesday night, at Balaka Paribahan, are critical, and DMCH doctors have shifted Rupa to the ICU.

Such horrendous conditions are be-ing witnessed not only in Dhaka but in almost all the 14 medical colleges with burn facilities. Saidur Rahman, a truck driver, is undergoing treatment at the Rajshahi Medical College Hospital burn unit, for a 28% burn injury.

Last Monday around 9pm, Saidur and his assistant, Sahidul Islam, came under a petrol bomb attack near Mol-lapara in Rajshahi. With 20% burns on his body, Sahidul is also being treated at the RMCH burn unit.

Another blockade victim at RMCH,

Faruq Hossain, has 5% burns on his body, including his lung system. Faruq was also attacked Monday night at Bon-gram while travelling there by truck.

Faruq, in a pained voice, said: “I used to work as a helper, and suddenly became jobless. At the time, I ran the household by taking loans from NGOs, who contacted me to repay the loan, and so I had to venture out of the house to collect money for it.”

Rani, Faruq’s wife, said: “We are al-ready managing our family with loans from NGOs and now Faruq is in the hos-pital. I don’t know what will happen to our family and how we will survive.”

According to the RMCH registrar, 18 victims are being treated there since the blockade began. Of these, eight are now undergoing treatment, while one has been shifted to the DMCH burn in-stitute. l

Day labourers worst su� erers of blockade, shutdownMany of them pass days without even a single pennyn Munir Momtaj

A balmy winter noon of yesterday saw Munni Begum, drained of energy and frustrated, sitting on a pavement at Azimpur eagerly waiting for someone to come and hire her as a day labourer.

A portion of the walkway she was sitting on is known to people as a place from where day labourers can be hired, mostly for construction work.

At the time Munni was waiting to be hired was not a moment when usually people hire workers.

But Munni desperately needed a work as over a week or so she had been out of work due to the ongoing block-ade and shutdown.

Moreover, she has to undergo a treatment including an operation that involves a fair amount of money.

Munni, a divorcee, lives at Kamran-girchar with her daughter’s family and she has worked as a day labourer for 20 years.

About a month ago she fell ill as her sinuses swelled up with a severe head-ache for which she could not work for quite a long time and she had to spend all her savings on treatment.

She said she was now � at broke with not a single penny even to buy a piece of bread.

“Let alone Tk20,000 that I need for my operation, I am even unable to en-sure my daily meals as people are not coming to hire us because of the block-ade and shutdowns,” she said in a voice of helplessness.

Like Munni Begum other day la-bourers have also similar stories to tell.

Visiting di� erent places where day labourers gather like Azimpur, New Market and Section Bazar this corre-spondent found that most of them re-turn home empty-handed almost every day.

Most of the labourers have their families back at village homes and they have to send money to them regular-ly. If it is not sent timely their family members are to pass days half-fed and sometimes unfed.

Some of them have already left Dha-ka to do something else in their villages to eke out a living there while others switched to other professions.

Kanchan Molla who worked as a day labourer in Dhaka city has recently left his profession. Now he sells betel leaf and cigarette in the capital for his daily expense.

He has wife, � ve daughters and one son at his home district in Bhola. He regularly sends money to his family members.

Kanchan said: “I cannot earn as much as I could from my previous pro-fession but it helps me just to survive somehow in Dhaka city.”

He was not able to send any money to his family last month. l

The recent ban on pillion passengers on motorcycles seems to be in place for civilians only, as the lone civilian in the photo is the only one not carrying a pillion rider on his motorbike, as opposed to the four patrol motorbikes of armed police forces. The photo was taken in the capital’s Banglamotor area yesterday SYED ZAKIR HOSSAIN

I cannot earn as much as I could from my previous profession but it helps me just to survive somehow in Dhaka city

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